President Cyril Ramaphosa has returned early from an all-important investor charm offensive in London to confront raging violence in the North West capital of Mahikeng. The town is besieged by ensuing violence amid protestors going on the rampage, torching buildings and vehicles, looting shops and barricading roads in their call for Premier Supra Mahumapelo to step down. A number of residents have been arrested since Wednesday when the violence broke out.
Reinforcements through an increased presence of Public Order Police (POP), drawn from other areas are expected.
Ramaphosa who had to cut short his participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting which was part of his weeklong London itinerary; “called on law enforcement agencies to exercise maximum restraint in execution of their duties to return calm and normality to the province.
“President Ramaphosa has called for calm and adherence to the rule of law in the province and has called on aggrieved parties to express their grievances through peaceful means and engagement rather than violence and anarchy,” it was stated in a statement released by the Presidency.
Minister of International Relations Lindiwe Sisulu was left in charge.
The ANC’s delegation led by Ramaphosa is expected to be comprised of secretary general Ace Magashule and his deputy Jessie Duarte and North West NEC deployees in seeking solutions from all relevant party structures.
North West politics have been dogged by consistent wrangles since Mahumapelo’s rise to the political throne as ANC provincial chairperson and Premier. He has been accused by detractors of ruling with an iron-grip, whilst those that worshipped his ground hailed him as their “Black Jesus,” an epithet anew to South African politics.
From the opposition benches in the North West legislature, the Economic Freedom Fighters has taken its vote of no confidence fight against Mahumapelo to court for it to decide on the legal validity of their call for a secret ballot which it believes will dethrone him as Premier. The ANC through its majority in the legislature stood firm on an open ballot past Tuesday.
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Thabo Mothibi is a former broadcast journalist (TV and Radio) – with specialist reporting experience; SABC Political/Parliamentary and TRC Teams over a period of five years (1995 to 2000).
One key foreign assignment - is the 11-nation African Connection Rally – overland journey from Africa’s northern-most pole in the coastal Tunisian city of Bizerte to the southern-most pole in South Africa’s Cape Agulhas. From the journalistic years, Thabo then delved into Government media liaison and serving two former Ministers and three MECs. He became the Northern Cape Provincial Government’s first department based Communications Director at Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development - 2008-2010 – where he also served as Head of Ministry from 2003 – 2008.
As a former anti-apartheid activist, his political background and professional training aided him in spearheading the Northern Cape ANC’s 2004 National Elections media and publicity campaign and that of the 2006 Local Government Elections.
Whilst based in Waterkloof in Pretoria -2010 to end 2011, he consulted for Manstrat Agricultural Intelligence, then returned to the Northern Cape in 2012 to date, to consult independently and pursue other entrepreneurial interests in media and communications through KwaVuko Communications and Marketing.
Thabo Mothibi obtained his NQF7 through Wits University’s Graduate School of Public and Development Management (P&DM) in Johannesburg, a Unilever Mandela Rhodes Academy for Marketing and Communications Academy (UMRA). The goal of the NQF7 programme was to educate and train public and private sector professional communicators and marketers in government communications..
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