Limpopo - Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale was to submit his resignation letter to provincial legislature Speaker Rudolph Phala on Monday.
His confidants and aides said Mathale wrote the letter on Sunday.
According to sources, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe ordered Mathale to cut short his holiday on Thursday and fly back home from a visit to Italy to receive the news.
The beleaguered premier apparently avoided the ANC leader’s calls in the days following President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet reshuffle last week.
Mantashe then traced him to a hotel in Italy and managed to speak to him.
Sources said Mathale’s successor, South Africa’s ambassador to Ukraine, Stan Mathabatha, has been told to also fire three MECs close to Mathale.
They are provincial Treasury MEC David Masondo, Human Settlements MEC Clifford Motsepe and Economic Development MEC Pinky Kekana. The trio are expected to be replaced by Limpopo ANC task team chairman Philemon Mdaka, treasurer Thembi Nwedamutswu and deputy secretary Stan Motimele.
Mathale’s resignation letter was written a day after ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa told The Star in an interview in Polokwane that Mathale’s premiership had to be “looked at”.
North West Premier Thandi Modise and Eastern Cape Premier Noxolo Kiviet are expected to meet the same fate.
A close confidant of Mathale said on Sunday that the premier drafted the letter after driving to his home village of Dan, outside Tzaneen, to inform his family and relatives. He had earlier informed his MECs about his sacking.
“Mathale will give the letter to Rudolph, as the Speaker of the legislature, on Monday.
“The sitting will take place to swear in Mathabatha as an MPL before he’s officially appointed a premier,” said Mathale’s ally.
Another source said Mantashe and Mathale had met in the VIP section of OR Tambo International Airport.
“Mathale arrived at 10pm and Gwede was waiting for him there. Gwede was alone.
“He was so desperate to act against Mathale that he travelled all the way from his home (in Boksburg) to OR Tambo at 10pm. They met at a VIP room. I think they were desperate to act quickly.”
When contacted for comment on Sunday, Mantashe would neither confirm nor deny meeting Mathale at OR Tambo or ordering him to resign.
He refused to comment on the specific questions, saying he couldn’t respond to anonymous sources.
However, an anti-Mathale ANC source confirmed that Mantashe had ordered Mathale to resign. He said Mantashe was forced to trace Mathale because he had avoided his calls for days.
“Ask him why he avoided Mantashe’s calls? He has not been taking his calls since last week,” the source said.
Meanwhile, sources close to Mathale said he would contest the position of Limpopo ANC chairman at a conference in December.
He lost the position when the ANC national executive committee disbanded the provincial executive committee he led in March.
“His popularity is growing. Mathale is going to contest for the chairpersonship. He is being treated as a victim, and any victim wins.
“Even worse, their people are fighting,” said a source close to Mathale.
Mathale, who took over as premier in 2009, becomes the second Limpopo premier not to finish his term. His predecessor, Sello Moloto, was forced to step down in January 2009 after losing the provincial ANC chairmanship to Mathale.
Mathabatha’s elevation appears to be an open secret.
Three ANC leaders from Sekhukhune, Mathabatha’s home region, were heard whispering at a weekend ANC gathering in the area that his promotion was “long overdue”.
Meanwhile, most of Mathale’s allies snubbed a provincial ANC fund-raising dinner in Polokwane on Friday night.
Except for Motsepe, Masondo and Kekana, most of them were not at the function addressed by Ramaphosa.
The Star