North West cabinet reshuffle imminent: ANC provincial secretary

The provincial secretary of the ANC in the North West, Louis Diremelo, says a provincial cabinet reshuffle is imminent.

Diremelo made the announcement immediately after the Provincial Chairperson of the party, Nono Maloyi, was sworn in as a new member of the North West Provincial Legislature.

He was sworn in during a ceremony presided over by the Speaker of the Legislature, Basetsana Dantjie, on Tuesday afternoon.

This after the speaker declared a vacancy in the list of the ANC after the resignation of Onica Medupe as a legislature member.

Diremelo says the reshuffle will be made soon.

“Look we will not hide a reshuffle will happen. But not necessarily talking about seats, it will happen and that will happen after we have met in consultation with officials of the ANC. As the province, we will insist that it must happen. Anyway, it is inevitable that it must happen because your cabinet must reflect the provincial leadership. It will happen, it will not take us more than seven days.”

Mixed reactions

Last month, ANC alliance partners in the province expressed mixed reactions to the looming provincial cabinet reshuffle.

This after the party’s provincial top officials embarked on assessing the performance of its deployees both in the provincial executive council and provincial legislature.

It is aimed at what the ANC says is ensuring that there are necessary and informed changes in government.

Reshuffles in other provinces 

Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and Gauteng recently saw reshuffles that saw Mandla Msibi return in the Executive Council of Mpumalanga and Parks Tau relinquished of his duties in Gauteng.

In Gauteng, Premier Panyaza Lesufi made changes to the executive council, which saw three new faces including Kedibone Diale in Transport and Logistics, Mzi Khumalo at Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Matome Chiloane at the Education and Youth Development department.

Political analyst Sandile Swana argues that these reshuffles can be seen as an alignment of interests.

“Obviously people like Lebohang Maile were competing with Panyaza have been in a way side-lined and will be deployed somewhere else. Inside the ANC is factionalism, two is to give you and I some false hope and make our hearts ready to vote for the ANC in 2024.

Swana elaborates in the report below: