EFF rejects Job Mokgoro's appointment as North West premier

Supra Mahumapelo and the new North West Premier Job Mokgoro at Luthuli House. Picture: Bhekikhaya Mabaso/Africa News Agency (ANA)

Supra Mahumapelo and the new North West Premier Job Mokgoro at Luthuli House. Picture: Bhekikhaya Mabaso/Africa News Agency (ANA)

Published Jun 22, 2018

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Rustenburg - North West premier designate Professor Job Mokgoro was due to be elected and sworn in as provincial premier on Friday.

He was sworn in as a Member of the Provincial Legislature (MPL) on Thursday night.

African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Ace Magashule on Thursday officially announced Mokgoro, 70, as the new North West premier candidate, following the resignation of Supra Mahumapelo from the post on May 23.

Despite being described as an excellent administrator, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in North West came out with guns blazing, rejecting Mokgoro as the new premier.

"Professor Job Mokgoro is nothing but an extension of the corrupt cabal of the disgraced Supra Mahumapelo who was forced out of office after the emergency of a series of corruption scandals in his administration.

"The appointment of Mokgoro is a zero sum game in a sense that the man laid the foundation for the prevalence of corruption in the North West province. The ANC has betrayed the aspirations of the people of the North West province by deploying a premier that had a hand in the current corrupt state of affairs in the province," said EFF provincial secretary Papiki Babuile.

He said it was during Mokgoro’s tenure as acting director-general in the Office of the Premier that the Gupta-owned newspaper, The New Age, was illegally awarded a tender of distributing the newspaper in the province. The controversial Gupta family, close friends of former president Jacob Zuma and his family, are at the centre of state capture allegations. 

"Mokgoro went against the advice of the legal unit in the Office of the Premier and awarded the tender which was never advertised, let alone taken through the supply chain management processes. 

"Despite being celebrated as an experienced and strict administrator, Mokgoro facilitated corrupt transactions which were associated with the infamous Maize Meal Cup. The Maize Meal Cup symbolized the alliance of the now defunct 'premier league' which included the likes of Ace Magashule, David Mabuza and Supra  Mahumapelo."

African News Agency/ANA

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