Johannesburg - The so-called Forces of Change, a network of ANC activists who opposed President Jacob Zuma ahead of Mangaung, suffered a devastating blow when their Limpopo leaders were unceremoniously removed from key leadership positions.
The Limpopo ANC task team has officially booted out regional leaders aligned with Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale and Julius Malema and replaced them with Zuma sympathisers.
A week after The Star reported that the task team had resolved to disband the anti-Zuma Mopani, Sekhukhune and Peter Mokaba regions, the decision was confirmed on Tuesday night.
Surprisingly, the task team spared the pro-Zuma regions of Waterberg and Vhembe. This was despite Waterberg’s leaders having admitted that their squabbles led to the collapse of governance at municipalities.
The task team later noted that Waterberg was a “politically poisonous environment”.
The move, seen by various ANC leaders as a purge of those who challenged Zuma’s authority, has stripped Mathale and Malema’s allies of their political bases. Ironically, some members of the task team previously accused Mathale and his allies of purging them.
The victims included Mopani district mayor Joshua Matlou, his Peter Mokaba counterpart Lawrence Mapoulo, and Sekhukhune mayor Shoes Magabe. The trio were chairmen of the powerful regions.
The affected regional leaders said they had accepted the decision to fire them and would work with the task team.
Their positions as executive mayor in their respective districts municipalities now hang in the balance.
They were replaced with a string of leaders, which included former provincial health MEC Seaparo Sekoati, former ANC Youth League chairman and Malema nemesis Lehlogonolo Masoga, and former Limpopo ANC spokesman Ishmael Kgetjepe.
Mathale did not retain Sekoati as MEC after taking over as premier in 2009.
A staunch Zuma supporter, Masoga was the face of the anti-Malema rebellion in 2010, leading to his sacking from the youth league.
Kgetjepe was removed as Limpopo ANC spokesman by the Mathale-led provincial executive committee (PEC) halfway through his term.
The ANC national executive committee parachuted in the Limpopo task team after disbanding the PEC in March. The PEC was accused of factionalism and displaying “un-ANC behaviour”.
Announcing the task team at the time, ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa said it had a three-pronged mandate: to unite the party; facilitate a provincial elective conference by December; then ensure the ANC maintained its overwhelming majority in the province in next year’s elections.
The Limpopo task team stirred controversy a few weeks ago when it placed a moratorium on the awarding of multimillion-rand tenders. This led to the Forum of Limpopo Entrepreneurs’ Shiviko Mabunda accusing it of obsessing over tenders instead of running the provincial ANC and preparing it for an elective conference.
The Star