The North West Legislature says that although Professor Job Mokgoro resigned as the Premier, he is yet to resign as a Member of the Legislature. The Office of the Speaker earlier confirmed receipt of the resignation letter of premier Job Mokgoro.
Mokgoro was expected to have resigned as both the Premier and Member of the Provincial Legislature to give way to 67-year-old Bushy Maape.
Mokgoro however did not resign as a member of the legislature. The ANC Interim Committee IPC has been calling for Mokgoro’s removal, after accusing him of not taking instructions from the party.
The ANC IPC announced Mokgoro’s removal last week but Mokgoro has since raised concerns about the manner in which his removal was communicated to him.
In response, he indicated that he will only resign after meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa. The meeting took place on Wednesday.
When announcing his resignation earlier today, Mokgoro thanked the province’s citizens for giving him an opportunity to lead. He also mentioned that during his tenure, he tried by all means to uproot corruption in the province.
No vacancy at the legislature
Spokesperson for the North West Legislature, Tebogo Chaane confirmed Mokgoro’s resignation as premier.
“Today the Speaker received a resignation letter of Premier Professor Job Mokgoro as a Premier of the North West province. He remains a Member of the Legislature because he has not resigned as a Member of the Legislature. He has resigned from the position of the Premier. So he remains as a member as things stand now.”
Chaane says currently there is no vacancy for Maape in the legislature.
” What I know from the legislature side and processes of the law is that at the moment there is no vacancy because Ntate Mokgoro remains a Member of the Legislature. So, there is no vacancy at all.”
He says the legislation still has 33 members:
Political Analyst Professor Barry Hanyane, believes the move by Mokgoro not to resign as a Member of Parliament, can be easily navigated by the ANC.
” What is likely to happen, they could obviously ask another member as they have done before in parliament nationally and give that particular person a concession or a reward for having taken a bold stance. So, the MPL position of the former premier, so to speak it’s not necessarily a complication in itself. One can navigate that.”
The special sitting of the provincial executive council has appointed MEC for Finance, Motlalepule Rosho, as acting premier.
