Johannesburg - Nomvula Mokonyane’s reign as Gauteng premier has ended after five years at the helm.
She was one of the three premiers not retained by the ANC on Monday. The others are Thandi Modise of the North West and Noxolo Kiviet of the Eastern Cape.
The Star has reliably learnt that Local Government and Housing MEC Ntombi Mekgwe will replace Mokonyane.
Mekgwe emerged as the preferred premier elect after a marathon meeting of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) that lasted until late Monday night.
Her appointment is expected to be announced at a press conference at 2pm. The Star understands her name will be read along with David Mabuza of Mpumalanga, Stan Mathabatha of Limpopo, Senzo Mchunu of KwaZulu-Natal, Ace Magashule of Free State and Sylvia Lucas of the Northern Cape, who have all been retained.
Mekgwe was not among the three names submitted by the ANC Gauteng provincial executive committee (PEC) last Friday.
The PEC nominated provincial chairman David Makhura, Education MEC Barbara Creecy and Finance MEC Mandla Nkomfe.
The PEC had earmarked Mekgwe as speaker in the legislature, but Nkomfe withdrew his name from the top three list, paving the way for Mekgwe as premier elect.
Sources said she was a compromise candidate as the PEC had insisted on Makhura as premier elect. Until Monday night, the committee celebrated his appointment, then the ANC overruled them.
The NEC is said to have insisted on Mekgwe taking the reigns from Mokonyane, citing the need to uphold the party’s gender equity policy.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said in provinces where the premier was a woman, the speaker could not also be a woman. This created the circumstances for Mekgwe’s ascension.
Mekgwe served as the executive mayor of Ekurhuleni in 2008 before being appointed as the MEC of Health and Social Development in 2010. She now has the unenviable task of uniting a largely divided province and leading it to the 2016 local government elections in the face of tough competition from the DA and Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters.
Gauteng received 53.92 percent of the vote in the recent elections, a 10 percent drop when compared with the election results of 2009.
Mekgwe’s appointment comes in the wake of a growing chasm in the Gauteng ANC as the fallout over the party’s poor electoral showing sinks in.
The Gauteng ANC has been dogged by divisions pitting a faction hostile to President Jacob Zuma against his sympathisers.
This growing sense of disagreement has become more apparent in the premier nominations.
On Monday, a group of disgruntled ANC members from the West Rand and Tshwane regions descended on the party’s Luthuli House headquarters calling for the disbandment of the PEC as punishment for the party losing support in the poll.
The protest seemed to be timed to put pressure on the party’s national leadership since it coincided with the NEC’s gathering in Pretoria for the meeting to decide the names of the premiers in the eight provinces it governs.
The group accused the PEC of “unconstitutional and factional behaviour” by undermining Zuma’s integrity. P
osters read: “The weakest link must be disbanded immediately”; “They are a bunch of useless (losers)”; and “Disband the 53 percent PEC”.
Mokonyane was nominated to the national assembly list but declined, fuelling speculation that Zuma wanted her to continue as Gauteng premier. She and the president enjoy a cordial relationship.
It was unclear this morning where Mokonyane would be deployed.
The only other woman premier is Lucas.
Who is Ntombi Mekgwe?
She was a member of the Congress of SA Students (Cosas) and is now due to be inaugurated as premier of Gauteng.
Mekgwe grew up supporting the ANC, while it was still banned, together with her siblings on the East Rand. She became an active member of Cosas while still in high school.
Her political career continued to flourish and she formally joined the ANC in February 1990.
During the transitional local authority formation, Mekgwe became the ANC mayor of Nigel.
In 2001, the East Rand municipalities merged to form the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Council.
She served as a mayoral committee member under former mayor Bavumile Vilakazi.
In 2006, she became the speaker of the Ekurhuleni Metro.
In July 2008, Mekgwe was appointed mayor of Ekurhuleni after the ANC expressed its dissatisfaction with the then-mayor, Duma Nkosi.
Municipal DA leader Eddie Taylor said: “Mekgwe was a reasonable choice, but it remains to be seen whether she can fill the departing mayor’s shoes.”
Mekgwe was hardly two years in office as mayor when, in November 2010, the Gauteng ANC forced Nomvula Mokonyane to appoint her in her cabinet. Though she initially resisted, Mokonyane eventually appointed Mekgwe as MEC for Health.
The DA in the Gauteng Legislature became critical of Mekgwe’s appointment, with then-DA caucus leader Jack Bloom saying her “record at Ekurhuleni was not inspiring”and she was responsible for the financial deterioration at the metro.
A cabinet reshuffle put Mekgwe on the move again and she was deployed to head Local Government and Housing. There she had to deal with the mess caused by previous incumbent Humphrey Mmemezi.
She spent most of the time in the legislature answering questions about the rot in her department.
The Star