Pretoria - Re-elected chairperson of the ANC in Limpopo Stan Mathabatha has vowed not to use his position to settle political scores. He said he would not “advocate reshuffling” of his cabinet “at this stage” but would do so “should it become necessary”.
At least five of the MECs in the current provincial executive failed to make the cut in the party’s new provincial executive committee (PEC) elected at the conclusion of the ANC’s 10th elective conference at the Ranch Resort at Polokwane on Sunday.
Mathabatha, who is also premier, has extended an olive branch to his challenger and Public Works MEC Dickson Masemola, saying he will continue to work with him to continue to build the organisation.
Masemola lost the position of chairperson to Mathabatha by 392 votes.
He was one of the five MECs who were dumped from the additional members list alongside Treasury MEC Seaparo Sekoati, Agriculture MEC Nandi Ndalane, Education MEC Polly Boshielo and Sports MEC Thandi Moraka.
Others include former PEC spokesperson Donald Selamolela, Makhado-Musina Special Economic Zone CEO Lehlogonolo Masoga and legislature deputy speaker Jerry Ndou.
Speaking to the Pretoria News, Mathabatha said a reshuffle of the executive committee was not supposed to be informed by politics of party conferences.
He said: “You can’t drop a person from the cabinet because he contested elections. That would be mean.”
However, Mathabatha left room for a possibility of a change in his executive committee.
“Conditions will dictate but we are not anticipating any cabinet reshuffle. But a reshuffle can’t be informed by politics of going to conferences of the ANC. That in itself does not mean anything about our deployment in government, so we don’t have any plans for a reshuffle on the cards as yet.”
“The ANC Limpopo has not yet met to discuss and consider any possible reshuffling. The reshuffling of the MECs remains the prerogative of the premier (Mathabatha)
“We will not at this stage advocate reshuffling. However, should it become necessary we will surely make such a recommendation to the premier after careful assessment of the MEC’s work in light of the ANC manifesto.
“The fact that five of the MECs were not elected does not automatically give rise to reshuffling. However, should there be a need, reshuffling will not be directed to the five who did not make it to the PEC instead the entire provincial exco.”
Asked if the conference showed divisions within the party, Mathabatha said because his slate won by big margins it showed that there was unity among its members.
”I don't know what a clean sweep is supposed to be, but what I know is that the margins were a bit wide. When you look at the gap in between it was a bit huge. To me, that says that the ANC is not divided in this province.
He said 80% of the members of the organisation saw things in a particular way, “... and obviously in a democracy you will always have voices of dissent and that is a normal political discourse.
“But then you don’t just condemn those people. You need them in a democracy, you need them to sharpen the policies and the kind of decisions that you are taking.
“To me this margin says we are more united than divided. You see if the margins were almost 50/50 then we would be worried that there was division.”
Meanwhile, the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in Limpopo, an ally of the ANC, has called for a reshuffle a day after the conclusion of the conference.
Sanco provincial secretary Theo Makola said: “The dictate of public administration warrants Premier Mathabatha to assess the performance of his MECs from time to time and effect cabinet reshuffling where necessary to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the provincial administration and thereby enhance service delivery.”
Pretoria News