Supra Mahumapelo / Photo by Luke Daniel, TheSouthAfrican.com
Supra Mahumapelo / Photo by Luke Daniel, TheSouthAfrican.com
Following the suspension of former North-West Premier Supra Mahumapelo from the African National Congress (ANC), the Democratic Alliance (DA) have bemoaned the fact that the province was forced to endure his involvement for so long.
The opposition party said on Thursday 29 April that despite a plethora of clever ideas having been promised by Supra, the province is now ailing in a state of ruinous unemployment, infrastructure decline and poverty.
“The fact of the matter is that the North West Province would have been in a better position today if Supra Mahumapelo never happened,” said Leon Basson, the DA’s North West Provincial Leader.
Supra Mahumalepo suspended for five years
Mahumalepo, along with acting women’s league secretary Bitsa Lenkopane, were suspended by the ANC’s interim provincial committee (IPC) on Wednesday as a result of accusations that they were pivotal in organising and running a parallel rally not far from the IPC’s own Siyanqoba gathering during a by-election.
“After considering the aggravating factors as submitted by the presenter of evidence on behalf of the ANC represented by the IPC in the North West province, the committee therefore concluded on the following: that both members are hereby suspended from the ANC for a period of five years with immediate effect. That both respondents must be removed from the list of public representatives,” said PDC Chairperson Wendy Matsela upon announcing the pair’s suspension.
Mahumalepo’s legacy in the province leaves a lot to be desired, with calls for his suspension having been a frequent feature of provincial politics for over a decade.
Supra’s ‘Grand plans’ failed to advance North West province
Basson said that Supra’s suspension comes more than 10 years too late.
“Supra Mahumapelo had an arsenal of grand ideas and clever rhetoric, from his Re-branding, Re-Positioning and Renewal (RRR) Vision to “Saam Werk, Saam Trek” and the Villages, Townships and Small Dorpies Retail Economy Project, but in reality, his legacy supported and promoted by the entire ANC, has wreaked complete destruction on the North West at the expense of the people, and for the self-enrichment of cadres throughout his patronage network and the ANC,” he said.
He said that during the time in which Mahumapelo occupied the Premier’s office, “good governance principles were subverted to advance the interests of factional ANC politics instead of the interests of the people of North West”. Expanding on this, he said that rural towns across the province are in an “advanced state of economic ruin”, with joblessness resulting for more than 750 000 Northwesters who are unable to find a job today.
“This is an increase of 270 000 more people over the last decade,” he said.
Unemployment, infrastructure collapse abundant
The North West province is also home to some 1.25 million people who rely solely on a social grant as the only form of income or to augment their income. Basson said that following Mahumalepo’s time in office, more than 300 000 households have reported that they run out of money to buy food in any given month, while 216 000 households have reportedly skipped meals to make their food budget stretch a little further.
Infrastructure in the province is deeply problematic too.
“Water, sanitation and electricity services are erratic at best, roads are untravellable [sic], and the safety and security of ordinary people across our rural province are threatened by a constant criminal onslaught,” he said, adding that hospitals and clinics are “understaffed, under-resourced and dilapidated” while the education system “constantly fails at capacitating learners with the knowledge and skills needed for a prosperous and successful adult life”.
Basson said that Supra Mahumapelo’s legacy can be surmised in the Auditor-General’s reports over the last decade, with billions of rands lost “through irregular, unauthorised, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure”.
“[This is] money that could have been better applied to improve the lives and livelihoods of the people of North West,” he said.
