Mxolisi Dukwana was passed over in favour of Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae in the Free State. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
The absence of the ANC’s chairpersons in North West and the Free State from the respective provincial cabinets is causing concern among party branches that this could create difficulties by establishing two centres of power.
The ANC chair in North West, Nono Maloyi, did not stand for election as premier, after opting to leave government and focus on business, while his Free State counterpart, Mxolisi Dukwana, was passed over in favour of Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae.
Historically, the ANC has appointed its provincial chairpersons as its premier candidates in an effort to ensure that there are no power battles between the party’s structures and its deployees in government.
This is the case in all provinces where the ANC has a majority — and in Gauteng, where its voter support fell below 50% in 29 May general elections but where chairperson Panyaza Lesufi was returned as premier with the assistance of the Democratic Alliance and other parties.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the appointment of Nomusa Dube-Ncube as premier by the ANC in 2022 turned out to be a disaster, with its chairperson Siboniso Duma repeatedly upstaging her at government events.
Duma earned the nickname of “shadow premier” over his antics, which not only embarrassed the provincial government but also affected Dube-Ncube’s ability to do her job when the real power rested with her cabinet junior.
In the Free State, the Mail & Guardian understands that Dukwana has been rewarded with the position of speaker of the Free State legislature to ease tensions between him and Letsoha-Mathae.
ANC Free State deputy chair Toto Makume said in an interview that there was “no fear” that the situation would result in a power struggle between the chair and the premier.
Makume said the premiers were selected by national officials following a process through which the province nominated three people for the job who were then interviewed by Luthuli House, with the best candidate being appointed to lead the province.
He said it was “not the first time” the province would have a premier who was not the chairperson of the party and that the ANC was “not worried” about the development of parallel centres of power.
“All the deployees of the ANC know that the ANC is the centre and individuals get deployed into strategic positions,” Makume said, adding that the party had decided that it would elect Dukwana as the new provincial speaker as this would allow him to lead the party in the legislature.
He said the tension between Duma and Dube-Ncube in KwaZulu Natal would not be repeated in the Free State as Dukwana and Letsoha-Mathae were “mature leaders” who were “aware the ANC is the centre”.
Where there were issues of personal interest or misunderstandings, the ANC would be there to bring recourse, he added.
“Our boss ultimately becomes the ANC — not the chair, deputy chair or the secretary but the organisation. We have agreed that all ANC cadres must respect the role of the premier and at all material times, we must support the premier,” Makume said.
In North West, ANC sources said that there was already tension and the branches had started lobbying for Maloyi to be removed as chairperson for refusing to join the government to prevent impending tension with premier Lazzy Mokgosi.
“I can tell you, what usually happens is that, if a leader of a political party opts not to be in government, it means they have to give instruction on a daily basis,” one source said. “Some of our deployees will say they will never be controlled by someone who is outside.”
There was unhappiness over the decision at branch level, they added.
“This is the concept that is starting to come out in the minds of the many comrades that we want to avoid a situation of two centres of power. There is already a vote of no confidence in the chair for his refusal to go into government. Everyone is asking why he still wants power.”
The source said ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula’s office had to intervene as there had been “no consensus” among the provincial leadership as to who to appoint to the provincial cabinet.
Mbalula’s office said Maloyi could not make decisions on his own on who to appoint to the cabinet in a province which has been heavily divided since the days when Supra Mahumapelo was chairperson and premier.
“The person who refused to be the premier wanted to dictate who should be where and who should occupy which strategic positions. Who goes where should be the prerogative of the premier,” the source said.
“The premier will find it difficult to work with those that have been imposed on him by someone who is outside because those people will never account to the premier but to their master who is outside of government.”
ANC provincial secretary Louis Diremelo said the issue of two centres of power had not been a problem in the North West and the process of running the party and the government was “smooth”.
Diremelo said Maloyi “remains the chair of the province” and had told the ANC that he was pursuing his business interests rather than politics.
“He made it clear on the onset when nominations were starting in the branches of the ANC that he is not coming back to government as he has served more than 25 years in government and is now a full-time volunteer of the ANC. He was not part of the people who were sent for interviews for the premier candidate,” he said.
The premier would be given space to do his job, Diremelo said.
“We must be able to meet with the premier every Monday without fail to see to it that there is a smooth running of issues. I do not see this thing of two centres of power happening here in the North West, if we maintain the discipline of consulting each other on issues that the premier must know,” he said.
“Where he does not, we will call him and say, on this particular issue, we have interests and we need to talk to you about it in the running of the government.
“We are not micromanaging him. It is also very rare to find people creating two centres of power when they are doing their own things in business and the other one is busy on government issues.”
Diremelo said cabinet members had been appointed on the basis of ability and claims that Mbalula had to intervene in the process were not true, as all provinces where the ANC retained its majority had followed the same procedure in naming premiers and MECs.
“That’s why we were there and it is not only us that went to the office of the SG [secretary general] to consult, every province has to do that,” he said.