Paul Mashatile has been recommended as the new Gauteng premier, the African National Congress (ANC) announced on Friday.
This appointment comes after Mbhazima Shilowa’s resignation this week, the party said.
”The ANC’s national leadership has decided to recommend to the ANC in Gauteng Mashatile be elected premier of the province,” the statement said.
Shilowa resigned on Monday out of loyalty to ousted president Thabo Mbeki and because he did not want to be ”in constant battles” with the ANC leadership.
”I am resigning due to my convictions that while the ANC has the right to recall any of its deployed cadres, the decision needs to be based on solid facts, be fair and just.
”I also did not feel that I will be able to, with conviction, publicly explain or defend the … decision on comrade Thabo Mbeki,” Shilowa told reporters in Johannesburg.
”You stand by your own if you think they’ve been wrongly dealt with. I’m doing no more than that,” he added. — Sapa