Judgment day for Mathale

Independent Newspapers.

Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale. Picture: Dumisani Sibeko.

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ANC will most likely disband its Limpopo leadership structure today in what could be construed as a precursor for the recall of Premier Cassel Mathale.

The party’s national executive committee (NEC) will disband Limpopo’s provincial executive committee (PEC) following a report tabled by the national working committee (NWC) after it met with provincial branches and other structures in the province.

The NEC will apparently appoint a task team to oversee the work of the province for nine months.

ANC spokesman Keith Khoza said last night that the NEC was still discussing the matter. “No decision has been taken.”

Mathale could not be reached for comment. ANC Limpopo spokesman Makonde Mathivha said: “You can’t get comment from me, if we are disbanded. I speak on behalf of the PEC. But if it is no longer there, I cannot comment. If I commented, it would be in my personal capacity.”

The province was paralysed by factional fights and polarised between supporters of President Jacob Zuma and the Mathale faction, which wanted Kgalema Motlanthe to take over from Zuma at the ANC conference last year.

Part of Mathale’s shaky government – at least five departments – was placed under the national administration, clipping his power and influence.

The NEC’s decision could have also been informed by a secret document apparently compiled by disgruntled members from several Limpopo ANC branches complaining about Mathale’s PEC.

The document, which was prepared before the ANC’s Mangaung conference, has detailed the failures, corruption factional tendencies of the leadership under Mathale, and calls for the national leaders to act.

The Sunday Independent is in possession of the document and has verified it with one of the authors.

A prominent Limpopo ANC member – who is opposed to the Mathale faction – told The Sunday Independent yesterday that “Luthuli House has the document and they will act on it soon”.

The document, titled “dysfunctional state of the organisation and paralysis in Limpopo”, details how some ANC members and leaders were marginalised by the so-called Mathale and Julius Malema cabal in the province and how their associates benefited from irregular tenders and state jobs.

It condemned the provincial leaders for openly endorsing the expelled youth league president Julius Malema when he insulted Zuma in public.

“There are concerns about the PEC mobilising factions and (it has) not shown any commitment to building unity. Factionalism is getting entrenched and impacts on aspects of the political life in the province,” the document said, charging that “factional activities have coalesced around leadership figures and continued anti-organisational activities”. - The Sunday Independent