As expected, the ANC on Sunday began the process of removing David Makhura, its former provincial chair, from his job as Gauteng’s premier, taking a leaf from its well-rehearsed playbook ahead of an internal national leadership conference in December.
Unfortunately, for the millions of citizens of SA’s industrial, commercial and financial heartland, this impending change will not translate into better and quality public services and better lives. Instead, replacing Makhura is meant to rebalance the new factional realities triggered by the provincial elective conference, where Makhura was replaced by his deputy, Panyaza Lesufi, who beat rival Lebogang Maile as the party’s boss.
Makhura, his successor and the provincial leadership were at pains on Sunday to emphasise that they are beginning a smooth transition — instead of a recall or removal of the premier — but the reality is that Makhura’s tenure has come to an end more as a result of the conference outcomes than a need to improve the lives of Gauteng’s citizens.
In terms of the ANC playbook, Makhura’s exit, authored months ago when he saw the writing on the wall, was preceded by intense briefing of journalists before Sunday’s media briefing. The same playbook has been unfolding in other provinces: the Eastern Cape’s Oscar Mabuyane reshuffled his cabinet to reward his loyalists soon after winning re-election; and, most recently, the premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Sihle Zikalala, resigned after losing a re-election bid to Siboniso Duma. A cabinet reshuffle is expected in the North West after its elective conference, which saw premier Bushy Maape losing to Nono Maloyi as the party’s provincial leader.
At a national level, this chaotic transition started in 2007. Once Thabo Mbeki, then president of the republic, lost party leadership to Jacob Zuma in Polokwane, he was removed in 2008 and replaced, albeit briefly, by Kgalema Motlanthe as interim president before Zuma’s rise to power in 2009. After his narrow election victory at the ANC’s 2017 national conference, Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC removed Zuma from the Union Buildings.
The internal rationale for these changes has been to obviate the phenomenon of “two centres of power” — that is, having provincial party leadership and government leadership being held by different individuals — and the need to align party with government leadership.
The consequence of all these messy, inwardly driven party changes has been to destabilise governance — across all three spheres of the state — as the ANC prioritises its electoral fortunes over governance matters.
Ordinarily, an internal change of leadership ought not affect governance as the same party retains control of political power. For example, the UK’s Conservative Party has been running an internal leadership election contest for the past month since the resignation of Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, who has been mired in scandals. This hasn’t paralysed governance. Johnson, who will either be replaced by Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak this week, has continued to make consequential decisions, including announcing interventions to cushion British people from the harsh effects of the cost of living crisis.
Regrettably, almost three decades into governance, the ANC has built no such track record of a smooth transition from one faction to another. Inevitably, changes of leadership are often accompanied by wholesale changes of both political and administrative leadership personnel. This results in a change of focus and causes instability in the government and disruption to service delivery. It happened after Mbeki’s so-called recall, and at provincial and local government levels over the years.
More concerning, it would not be an issue if the Gauteng local government sphere was functioning properly and effectively. Even when the ANC was in charge, local government — especially the three metros in the province, Tshwane Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni — was largely ineffectual and ineffective. This is likely to worsen as the ANC tries to destabilise and wrestle power from DA-led coalition in metros.
Makhura has tried to run a fairly decent, sleaze-free administration. While Gauteng citizens will have no voice or say in who succeeds Makhura, they should hold his successor to account and pressure him to fix collapsing municipalities. In 2024, when they vote, the province’s residents should remember that the ANC prioritises its interests more than it does theirs. That the ANC is more important than the province’s citizens was all too clear at Sunday’s briefing.
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