The deployment of ANC deputy secretary general Thandi Modise as the new premier of North West province will not necessarily end infighting in the province, protagonists have told the Mail & Guardian.
ANC and provincial government sources in North West said that the majority of provincial task team members saw Modise’s deployment as a backdoor victory for the former provincial executive committee (PEC), which recommended her as premier after last year’s election.
The current premier, the politically weak Maureen Modiselle, was appointed instead, even though her name did not feature among the three recommended by the North West ANC to the party’s national leadership.
The ANC’s national executive committee meeting at the weekend endorsed Modise’s deployment to lead the government of her home province. The M&G reported last week that senior ANC leaders had proposed that Modise be redeployed to bring stability to the troubled region.
More than a year after Luthuli House dissolved the PEC and deployed a provincial task team to forge unity and rebuild ANC structures, little has changed. Alliance partners Cosatu and the South African Communist Party even argued that the situation was deteriorating as the task team took full control of the province, including making governance decisions on the premier’s behalf.
Though she has not been elected provincial chairperson or secretary in North West, Modise’s current position as a deputy secretary general gives her considerable political weight and she is respected as one of the principled veterans of the party.
After learning of the proposed change at the NEC meeting, the provincial task team, led by former ANC youth league national executive member Saki Mofokeng, separately met certain provincial ministers and proposed the removal of four ministers from the North West cabinet: Rebecca Kasienyane (health), Gordon Kegakilwe (cooperative governance and traditional affairs), Johannes Tselapedi (education) and Howard Yawa (public works).
Premier’s prerogative
No formal announcement has been made about the changes, as it is the premier’s prerogative to reshuffle the provincial cabinet.
The M&G has learned through two sources in North West that the cabinet changes were effected without the blessing of current premier Modiselle or her replacement, Modise. They will not take place until they are endorsed and announced by one of the two women.
Modiselle has not resigned yet, though sources close to her said it was “certain” that she would hand in her resignation letter soon. “It is a process that needs to be managed politically, but it is going to happen,” said one ANC provincial source.
Task team leader Mofokeng denied that his team had met provincial ministers this week, in spite of confirmation by some of the ministers concerned that the encounter had taken place at Gertrude Mphekwa House, the ANC’s provincial headquarters.
“There is an expectation that there will be a reshuffle, because it happened in other provinces,” Mofokeng said.
Modiselle met President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday afternoon in Cape Town and was officially informed that she had been sacked, ANC sources said.
Two new members of the North West legislature, Hlomane Patrick Chauke and Magome Masike, were sworn in this week to fill the vacancies left by Yvonne Makume and former sport and recreation minister Grace Pampiri, who was fired by Modiselle after allegations of corruption. Pampiri is now a national MP.
Chauke resigned from the National Assembly on Wednesday and is now earmarked for the position of provincial minister of safety and security. The two new members of the legislature featured high on a revised list of the provincial legislature approved by Luthuli House last week.
Party sources said Modise might face fresh division as the task team had already linked her to the former PEC and might want to undermine her by reshuffling her cabinet before she takes over.
“How do you appoint a chief executive officer and then change people’s positions before that person starts working? The CEO should be allowed to put together his or her own team,” said the ANC source.
The three ministers who were told that they are to be removed from their positions, Kasienyane, Kegakilwe and Yawa, were members of the disbanded provincial executive committee.
Modise has links with the former PEC, which was disbanded last year. In 2002 she fought former premier Popo Molefe for the position of provincial chairperson.