Moloko Moloto
Tensions are boiling within Cope, as members jostle for the position left vacant by former Limpopo premier Sello Moloto in the provincial legislature.
Moloto resigned as MPL and Cope chairman earlier this year to take up a diplomatic post as South African ambassador to Mozambique. His position as leader of the opposition in the provincial legislature and the party was subsequently filled by his deputy Solly Mkhatshwa.
Cope won four seats during the 2009 elections, and Mkhatshwa had been an ordinary MPL before Moloto resigned. A fiery debate has now erupted about who should fill the vacant post. Two sources in the party accused Mkhatshwa of trying to get his romantic partner, Mokgadi Raganya, to take up the vacant position.
“He is turning this party into a family business,” said a source. The Star has seen a list of candidates who would fill up all the seats in the legislature if Cope had won the elections.
The top four candidates, including Moloto, Mkhatshwa, Tshilidzi Ravhuandzo, and Mabule Motubatse, were the only ones who made it to the legislature. Candidate number five, who ideally should fill the vacant post, was Dorothy Seleka, deputy provincial chairwoman of the Cope Women’s Movement.
But sources say Mkhatshwa has done everything possible to ensure that Raganya, number seven on the list, becomes an MPL. He denies the allegations.