'Disciplined' Supra to be 'integrated' into ANC's North West task team
Ousted North West ANC chairperson and "disciplined member of the ANC" Supra Mahumapelo will be integrated into the provincial task team to be established in the troubled province, ANC secretary general Ace Magashule said on Friday.
He addressed the media on Friday morning on the party's special national executive committee (NEC) meeting the night before in Cape Town, where it was decided to disband the North West provincial executive, removing Mahumapelo as chairperson.
After weeks of unrest in the province, Mahumapelo was removed as North West premier in May but remained in the powerful position of provincial chairperson.
Job Mokgoro replaced him as premier and will also head up the task team.
The special session of the NEC resolved to intervene in the North West province to strengthen the organisation and enhance its capacity to meet its mandate to the people of the province.
"The NEC agreed to set up an inclusive provincial task team that will be seized with the task of uniting the organisation and positioning it as an effective leader of society," Magashule said.
Team members to be announced
He said this was done in line with the ANC constitution.
"The provincial task team is expected to work with all structures of the ANC, including alliance partners, in guiding the provincial government and in building a potent electioneering machinery going into 2019."
Magashule said the NEC directed the party's national working committee to convene as soon as possible to finalise and convey to the public names of those to sit on the "all-inclusive PTT (provincial task team) which will be reflective of the broad political spectrum of the democratic movement in the North West province".
News24 reported earlier on Friday that Mahumapelo put up a fight to keep his position and he is said to have accused some members of plotting to oust him.
Magashule painted a different picture.
"In the tradition of the ANC and as a disciplined member of the movement, the former chairperson of the North West province, comrade Supra Mahumapelo, took part in the discussion and fully accepted the outcome," Magashule said.
Mahumapelo 'still has a role to play'
Magashule said the NEC agreed that maximum attention must now be placed on election work, in the province and across the country.
Asked if Mahumapelo would be part of the task team, Magashule repeated that it would be an "inclusive" body and said Mahumapelo would be "integrated" into the team.
"Mr Mahumapelo is a disciplined member of the ANC. As a member of the ANC he still has a role to play," Magashule said.
He said Mahumapelo was one of the leaders the party had invested in heavily.
Thursday's NEC meeting follows the national working committee's visit to the province earlier this month to "stabilise" the party.
Mahumapelo's detractors placed him at the centre of the persistent problems plaguing the ANC in the province.
There have been calls from within the party for the provincial executive committee to be disbanded amid fears that the party could poll below 50% in next year's elections in the province with Mahumapelo at the helm.
