President Cyril Ramaphosa says his government is not in the business of removing the Premier and MECs in the North West.
He was asked by the media about the situation in that province on the sidelines of the Freedom Day celebrations in Bloemfontein on Friday.
The North West has experienced days of violence across the province, with many protesters calling for Premier Supra Mahumapelo to be removed over alleged corruption and poor service delivery.
Ramaphosa pointed out that government has established a task team to deal with the North West’s problems and has placed its health department under administration.
However, political analysts say the current unrest in North West may hurt the ANC to such an extent that it cannot be assured of the majority of votes in 2019’s national elections.
Mafikeng residents were held hostage last week by furious protesters who torched property and looted shops, demanding that North West Premier, Supra Mahumapelo, step down.
This is amid the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) strike over alleged corruption within the Provincial Health Department.
The ANC blames factions within the ruling party.
“It is a revolutionary war. There are two people who are fighting for power and it should be well noted. We can’t dispute that particular fact and, the issue that we have said … it is history in this particular province. Everytime after national conferences, people build conglomerations of disgruntled people who seemed to have been supporting a certain faction or a certain element. They will come to this particular province and demand regime change,” says Lerato Temee, PEC Convener at Dr Ruth Mompati District Municipality.
