Supra Mahumapelo
North West residents will have to wait a little longer to find out who their latest Premier will be, following claims the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) has rejected a list of names proposed by the provincial executive.
The NEC held a meeting over the weekend where it failed to reach a decision on a replacement for embattled former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo.
ANC secretary general Ace Magashule denies claims the NEC had rejected the list of names and said the decision to delay the announcement of a new premier was necessary to allow further consultations to take place.
“We have not rejected any names. The three names were presented to us but we felt we needed more time to engage comrades in the province, our alliance partners and come to a determination that will unite our organisation,” Magashule said.
Magashule says the NEC had not decided to disband the North West provincial executive committee (PEC), which sympathisers of President Cyril Ramaphosa had planned to have dissolved at the meeting.
READ MORE: Axe hangs over North West PEC
The governing party also appears to have taken a softer approach to the radical resolutions it had made on the expropriation of land without compensation and the nationalisation of the Reserve Bank at its elective conference last year.
On the issue of land, Magashule confirmed that the NEC had adopted the recommendations of the ANC’s land summit held earlier this month. The recommendations proposed that government continue with plans for expropriation without compensation using Section 25 of the constitution in its current form.
In February 2018, the ANC voted with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Parliament to amend of section 25 to allow expropriation without compensation.
Since then, the ANC says over 200 000 public submissions have been received by Parliament’s constitutional review committee on the matter.
The decision to endorse the land summit’s recommendation to test the constitution in its current form effectively puts an amendment on hold for the time being.
“[Government should] immediately use section 25 of the Constitution to press ahead with expropriation of land in order to test the argument that the Constitution does permit expropriation without compensation,” Magashule said.
Magashule continued saying: “Should it be found that section 25 impedes the implementation of expropriation without compensation then the constitution will be amended.”
At its December elective conference, the ANC resolved to nationalise the Reserve Bank. In March the party’s Parliamentary caucus tabled a motion on the nationalisation of the central bank, but withdrew it just hours before it was tabled for debate.
Following the NEC meeting this past weekend, the party says it has instructed its economic transformation subcommittee to urgently look into the matter, explaining it would not immediately push for a constitutional amendment and would first test what was possible within the current framework after a series of consultations.
“That clarity is necessary and we are saying if it is not permissible [to nationalise within the current Constitutional framework] we will therefore the Constitution,” Magashule said.
“But whatever we do … we will do our work as the governing party responsibly. There are no timelines. We have to engage with investors and different stakeholders and act responsibly.”