The African National Congress (ANC) Provincial Interim Committee (IPC) in the North West says Job Mokgoro was removed as Premier of the province because he failed to take party instructions.
It is the first time that the party publicly stated the reasons for removing Mokgoro.
The IPC announced 67-year old struggle veteran, Bushy Maape, as the Premier-elect.
Coordinator for the provincial IPC, Hlomane Chauke says, “Having done the proper assessment, the ANC came to this conclusion that we will definitely have to get someone else who will come in and take from where comrade Job has left. We had a lot of challenges that we had to deal with. I think at some point we then identified a number of weaknesses and one of those was the manner in which government is run at the level of having other people who are not meant to give instructions or command.”
VIDEO: IPC announces Maape as Premier-elect:
Opposition parties react
Meanwhile, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the North West have criticised the removal of Mokgoro and the subsequent appointment of Maape.
EFF Member in the Legislature, Lebogang Xaba says, “They have run out of ideas because they don’t know who to trust. I am feeling sorry for the voters because they are taking the voters for a ride.”
The DA’s Freddy Sonakile says, “This shows that the ANC has run out of options. What is mainly of concern for us as the DA is the fact that Bushy Maape has been the advisor to Premier Mokgoro. So it does not really solve anything because some of the things that they are accusing Mr Mokgoro of doing happened under the watch of Bushy Maape. So basically it is not really changing anything.”
In the video below, some ANC members protest outside the party’s Provincial Office in North West :
