Vuyo Mvoko
STORMY petrel of the North-West, Rocky Malebane-Metsing, still expects to be reinstated as the regional government’s MEC for agriculture — despite premier Popo Molefe’s pledges to the contrary.
Molefe, who fired Metsing two weeks ago, has insisted that the latter cannot be accommodated in the provincial cabinet but may be given a lesser government post. Metsing’s professions of loyalty to him were not enough, he added, saying that the former MEC would have to stop campaigning against him and disband “parallel unconstitutional structures”.
Metsing referred to the recommendations of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) on the dispute, drafted after a fact-finding trip by an NEC team including Sports Minister Steve Tshwete and Trade and Industry Minister Trevor Manuel.
“The document (containing the recommendations) is very clear. I have not seen anything that says I should not go back to my portfolio,” he said in an interview.
Metsing denied the existence of the unconstitutional structures Molefe alleges are destabilising his government. “I don’t know of any. But, for the benefit of the ANC leadership, I’m willing to go to such structures if someone can point them out to me, and if that is what it will take us to reconcile and work for the unification of the people of North-West.”
He maintained that “the instructions of the president, the NEC and the (ANC’s) national working committee stipulate that the premier should discuss everything, including possible alternatives, with me and with the NEC’s top five officials.”
He would not comment on whether he will settle for anything less than a cabinet post.
The region’s South African Communist Party has thrown its weight behind Molefe, furiously accusing the NEC of “foot- dragging”. It argued that it would be “incorrect” to return Metsing to his previous post.
Said SACP regional secretary Howard Yawa: “Metsing’s reinstatement will create a bad precedent. It will be saying that whenever a problem arises between ministers, the stronger is the one who can bus protesters to parliamentary buildings.
“If Metsing were a true member of the ANC, such things would never have happened.”
Yawa called the frequently expressed view that Metsing commands a significant support in the province a “miscalculation. No member of the organisation must get preferential treatment because of his support, and thereby be above the constitution.”