Free State Premier Beatrice Marshoff is facing a legal challenge to her authority by the heads of two key provincial government departments — who are believed to have the support of the African National Congress in the province.
In July Marshoff announced a reshuffle of the provincial Cabinet. She shifted, among others, four provincial directors general to different departments — in what was seen as a bid to consolidate her grip on the provincial government — and appointed Noby Ngombane as head of policy coordination and monitoring in the premier’s office.
Ngombane is responsible for monitoring all government programmes in the province and handles communication for the premier. In 2001, as coordinator of the ANC interim leadership committee, Ngombane was the one who recommended that Marshoff be brought back from the National Assembly to be a provincial minister.
After the announcement of the reshuffle, two of the four heads of departments agreed to the move. Former safety and security department head Hamlet Morule shifted to the environmental and economic affairs department, while former social development head Rachel Sempe took over sports, arts, culture, science and technology.
But the head of local government department, Makhosini Msibi, and the head of public works, roads and transport department, Ranthoko Rakgoale, have resisted the move. The two are taking the premier to court, seeking to nullify her decision.
In the meantime, acting heads of department have been appointed to the same positions the two incumbents are refusing to vacate. In effect, this means the local government and public works departments each have two heads.
Speaking on behalf of the premier, Ngombane said that as far as the premier was concerned, both are no longer in their old positions as they have been moved to new departments.
Msibi and Rakgoale have indicated that they do not understand the rationale for their being moved from their departments and believe that their expertise should be used where they are most effective.
However, the two heads of department have refused to speak to the media, saying that could give Marshoff a loophole to draft disciplinary charges against them. It is believed they are getting ready to argue in court that they should have been properly consulted before they were moved, and that their redeployment amounts to a violation of their existing contracts of employment.
The two have the support of the ANC in the province, with many of the organisation’s officials bitter about the fact that Marshoff did not consult the party before announcing the moves.
Senior officials in the ANC claim that the reshuffle was politically motivated as the two are considered close to the ANC Free State chair, Ace Magashule. Magashule, who is very popular with the ANC in the province, has been repeatedly overlooked for the post of provincial premier by President Thabo Mbeki.
“Marshoff became premier in May; and in July she was already moving people around. Two months is not enough time to have assessed strengths and weaknesses of the departments. This is a clear indication that she already had an agenda when she took office,” said a senior ANC provincial executive committee member.