Supra Mahumapelo expected to finally resign today 

Embattled North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo is expected to finally tender his resignation on Wednesday.

News24 has learnt that Mahumapelo will officially submit the letter to the speaker of the North West legislature, following a media briefing by ANC secretary general Ace Magashule, which is scheduled for noon.

The ANC earlier released an alert, saying that Magashule would brief the media “on the developments” in the troubled province.

Mahumapelo’s expected resignation follows a meeting between the party’s officials and the provincial leadership on Monday.

“The provincial working committee was asking the ANC leadership: ‘why don’t you speak to us as a structure when discussing Mahumapelo because he did not put himself there’,” a source who attended the meeting said. 

ICYMI: 

Supra Mahumapelo death threat claims ‘fake’ 

Hawks officers investigating the case laid by Supra Mahumapelo – who claimed a hitman was paid R250 000 to kill him – now believe the allegation is fake.

Although the Hawks are officially investigating a case of conspiracy to commit murder, two sources close to the investigation told City Press this week that they “are not buying” the version given by the North West premier’s source.

Mahumapelo has come under increasing pressure to leave office. Last week, he took indefinite leave instead of resigning as he had promised.

His entire provincial government was placed under administration this week after an assessment by an interministerial task team, as well as due to allegations of widespread corruption and maladministration, and the near collapse of provincial health services.

ICYMI: 

North West put under administration: What happens now? 

The interministerial task-team (IMTT) will this week head back to North West as the province has been put under administration.

Last week Cabinet decided to invoke Section 100 (1) on the Constitution, effectively putting the whole provincial administration under administration after Cabinet put the province’s health department under administration two weeks before.

In a letter to acting North West premier Wendy Nelson, chairperson of the IMTT, Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said the IMTT will return to the province to assess the state of affairs and assist the province to “recover and stabilise the situation”. 

ICYMI:

OPINION 

Why the ANC in North West could be heading into groundbreaking territory 

(By Ralph Mathekga)

The latest instalment in the ongoing North West saga is the decision by President Cyril Ramaphosa to place the province under administration.

It is very clear that Premier Supra Mahumapelo has no plan to listen to anyone calling for his removal, including his political bosses in Luthuli House. The move by Ramaphosa is aimed simply at cutting off Mahumapelo’s oxygen so he can begin to cooperate with Luthuli House.

With all major decisions about spending money and making payments now left to the task team that would take over key functions in the province, Mahumapelo will begin to run aground and possibly abandon ship in the province. This is how it is all expected to unfold unless Mahumapelo launches a fightback campaign, which I think he is likely to.

ICYMI: 

Supra Mahumapelo: ‘The people love me’ 

Supra Mahumapelo insists that he is still popular among the people of North West and that he has the best plan to ensure the ANC improves its support in next year’s election.

People “resonate well” with him during his visits to the villages and only a small group of ANC members don’t want him to remain the province’s premier.

In an interview with City Press on Wednesday, Mahumapelo said his detractors feared that under his stewardship, the provincial ANC would do so well “that it would be difficult to justify why you must not retain certain people [after the elections]”.

Mahumapelo had been expected to remain premier if the ANC won the province.

ICYMI: 

More North West powers taken away from Supra 

More departments in the North West are expected to be placed under administration by the national government as the interministerial task team led by Minister in the Presidency Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma returns to the embattled province to give feedback on its findings.

Highly placed insiders in the provincial government and ANC told City Press that plans were underway to increase the number of ministers participating in the task team, which has been seen as an indication that national government was likely to take more powers away from the province.

Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa placed both the provincial health department and treasury under administration in a bid to stabilise service delivery in the province after social unrest erupted in the capital, Mahikeng, and other parts of the province. 

ICYMI: 

Cabinet ‘satisfied with the progress’ made by task team in North West 

Cabinet is satisfied with the progress made by the inter-ministerial task team in the North West province.

What exactly that “progress” entailed, Communications Minister Nomvula Mokonyane kept mum on when she presented a media briefing on Thursday, following Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.

“Cabinet was presented with the report by the Inter-Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) on North West. The report provided the preliminary work that has been done in the last two weeks,” reads the Cabinet statement presented by Mokonyane.

“Cabinet was satisfied with the progress made by the IMTT in its efforts to stabilise the province.”