Rasool says he’ll go quietly

Premier Ebrahim Rasool says he will obey his political masters and go quietly if instructed to do so by the ANC.

On Monday morning Rasool spoke out about his imminent axing, a decision reportedly taken by the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC), as speculation grew that a complete overhaul of the provincial cabinet is expected to follow, with MECs believed to be aligned to the premier also facing the chop.

A similar purge is expected in the Eastern Cape after Premier Nosimo Balindlela was also effectively sacked by the NEC.

‘You can’t hide newspapers from your children’

By Monday morning Rasool had still not been informed that he was due to be sacked, or forced to resign.

He said the news had been “a long time coming” and he was thus “not unduly shattered”, this in reference to his long-standing battle with political foes within the ANC, in particular a faction led by provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha and his deputy Max Ozinsky.

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He described the internal battles within the ANC as “a dangerous cocktail of matters in the Western Cape”.

Rasool believed that one could possibly question whether the decision had been the “wisest”, the “fairest” or the most “even-handed”. But “it’s good someone is making a decisive intervention”.

“For many, the fact that there is an intervention to get the ANC ready for 2009 should be a relief. I feel fairly relieved that the thing is coming to a head,” he admitted.

Rasool said that while he would obey any ANC decision, handing over the premiership would have a significant impact on his life.

“You can’t hide newspapers from your children, in their heads you have to prepare them at a personal level,” he said after news of his departure made headlines on Sunday.

Similarly, a transition needed to be made in the government and politically, too, he said.

Asked what he might pursue personally, he said: “I’ve not been preparing for a life outside the work that I do now, but as soon as I’m told, those are the things I will have to activate.”

Rasool said there were many callings where he could possibly play a role. Among them was his continued belief in making the Western Cape “a home for all”, his provincial government’s slogan.

Other matters in which he wished to continue to play a role were in dealing with Islamaphobia, Islamic radicalism and other post-September 11 dynamics, “instances in which people have not found one another”.

He would not ask the ANC for any role in particular.

However, “I hope that people will concede that I may have some talents”, he said.

Asked on Good Hope FM whether he supported ANC leader Jacob Zuma, he said: “I had my worries and I failed in my preferences (when President Thabo Mbeki lost the ANC presidency).

“But I have reconciled with the leadership elected; that’s the way democracy works. I have done nothing to undermine that leadership.”

News of Rasool’s axing has been described by some ANC members as an “unashamed purge”.

Community Safety MEC Leonard Ramatlakane, Education MEC Cameron Dugmore and Environment and Economic Planning MEC Tasneem Essop are also believed to be on their way out.

Finance and Tourism MEC Lynne Brown is tipped to take Rasool’s place as acting premier until a new premier is appointed after 2009’s election.

Provincial parliament Deputy Speaker Yousuf Gabru and ANC provincial executive committee members Zodwa Magwaza and Max Ozinsky are among those up for new cabinet positions.

Sources say the cabinet shake-up would be the provincial ANC’s baby and not that of the NEC.

“Who takes over from whom will be discussed at provincial level,” said an ANC source.

Meanwhile, a special sitting of the provincial legislature is expected to take place on Tuesday, when Rasool will either have to resign or be forced out by a two-thirds vote of the legislature.

While some ANC sources say Rasool and Balindlela were both sacked by the NEC for being “behind factional divisions in their provinces”, others say the “redeployments” are strategic, to strengthen the party ahead of next year’s elections and “had nothing to do with personalities”.

However, the two premiers publicly supported Mbeki for a third term as ANC president before the party’s landmark national conference in Polokwane in December.

Rasool’s sacking comes two months after he told the Cape Argus he was “as surprised as everyone else that he still has his job after publicly supporting Mbeki in Polokwane”.

Sources inside the NEC meeting told the Cape Argus that when the Western Cape issues came up for discussion on Saturday evening, two proposals were put on the table by the national working committee (NWC), which had been investigating matters relating to the province.

The NWC proposed that Rasool be dismissed, and provincial ANC chairperson James Ngculu and secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha not contest elections at July’s provincial conference.

“The former suggestion was ‘unanimously’ endorsed while the latter was squashed by the NEC, with some calling for the NWC to apologise to Skwatsha for even contemplating that proposal,” said one source.

The NWC was expected to visit both the Eastern and Western Cape on Monday and Tuesday to explain their decisions to provincial structures.

While Brown’s star continues to rise in the ANC, it is not clear whether Rasool’s would diminish altogether or he would remain a member of the provincial parliament.

Brown was elected to the NEC at the Polokwane conference and post-Polokwane she has also been chairing the NEC’s sub-committee on legislature and governance.

The ANC in the province has beens divided into two warring camps, one headed by Rasool and the other by Skwatsha.

The NEC’s “intervention” comes after the infighting escalated in the past few months, with accusations of data manipulation, break-ins at ANC offices, accusations of sexual harassment and guns going off at branch meetings, all culminating in Skwatsha’s stabbing in June.

This all plays itself out just three weeks before the provincial conference scheduled for the second week of August.

In response to the dismissals, DA leader Helen Zille said the ANC’s factional power-play had triumphed over service delivery.

Zille said: “Reports of the imminent removal of premiers Nosimo Balindlela and Ebrahim Rasool demonstrate yet again that ANC decisions are driven by factional power plays, not the interests of the people. Service delivery is never a consideration for the ANC in making these decisions.”

She said it should be noted that, contrary to some press reports, the ANC NEC did not have the power to remove or appoint premiers.

“The constitution clearly states that premiers can only be removed by a resolution in a provincial legislature adopted with a supporting vote of at least two-thirds of its members.

The ID’s Patricia de Lille said the dismissals would lead to a loss of support for the ruling party in both provinces.

Original source can be read here, http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=6&art_id=vn20080714114230896C760608