Free State ANC secretary Sibongile Besani has slammed Premier Ace Magashule’s decision to reshuffle his cabinet, saying it was unfortunate, weak and not based on the performance and monitoring of provincial ministers.
In an interview with The Sunday Independent, Besani said Magashule had not consulted him on the cabinet changes as required by the party.
Besani said Magashule, who is also the province’s ANC chairman, only told him about the provincial government’s reconfiguration after it had been carried out.
Besani and sacked Free State Economic Affairs MEC Mxolisi Dukwana, have broken ranks with Magashule, one of President Jacob Zuma’s strongmen.
Dukwana is also the party’s provincial treasurer.
The two, who were once the premier’s close allies, have vowed to challenge him for the throne of the party and are leading a group that wants him ousted by June.
“The reshuffling is not informed by performance and monitoring. Its basis is not strong; it’s weak,” Besani said.
“I was only told about this reshuffle after it happened. My role as the provincial secretary was undermined,” he added.
Besani said he would express his misgivings on the provincial cabinet changes at the meeting of the party’s provincial executive committee (PEC).
He joined the provincial ANC Youth League in his condemnation of Magashule’s decision to change the make-up of his cabinet. Last week the Youth League charged that Magashule had used the cabinet reshuffle to purge ANC leaders who did not support him.
This was after Magashule demoted Dukwana to an ordinary member of the legislature. The ANC’s deputy provincial secretary, Mamiki Qabathe, was moved from her Co-operative, Traditional Affairs and Human Settlement position to replace Dukwana.
Besani said Dukwana and Qabathe should have been informed before being removed from their positions.
“Mxolisi was not accorded the opportunity to be informed of his weaknesses, if any. The removal of Mxolisi was unfortunate, it was not handled properly,” he said.
Magashule dismissed Besani’s claims, saying that he had consulted him and the party’s structures about the cabinet reshuffle.
“Besani was briefed about the reshuffle… I engaged the PEC and the went to the PWC (provincial working committee),” he said.
He said Besani was part of a group that was agitating for leadership change in the province.
“The problem of Besani and the rest is that they are people of regime change,” Magashule said.
Magashule said Dukwana’s economic department was weak.
“Dukwana is a strong character, but his department was weak,” he said.
He said the Free State was stable despite some unhappiness with the cabinet reshuffle.
“There is no patronage. It is people who are too ambitious who say this… I don’t have time for ambitious people,” he said.
Dukwana was quoted in local media saying his removal was clumsy and that he was ready to contest Magashule should branches of the ANC nominate him.
He was unavailable for comment this week.
Besani said the ANC in the province was plagued by factionalism, patronage and a personality cult syndrome.
“My belief is that politics of the Free State has degenerated to a point where dispensing patronage is institutionalised,” he said.
Responding to allegations that he wanted to take over from Magashule, Besani said he was prepared to lead should he be elected by the branches of the party.
“If branches elect me to be part of the collective, I am ready to consider it,” he said. “It is not all about me taking over; it is all about the collective that will change the future of Free State.”
He said the party had to rid itself of factionalism.
“The real challenge of the Free State leadership is to undo factions… There is a tendency to divert people from real political challenges by promoting personalities.
“We are still handicapped on this notion of personality cult,” he said. - Sunday Independent