Ramaphosa: Supra Issue 'Is Being Handled'

Ramaphosa said meetings will be held with the embattled premier and the ANC in the province throughout the coming week.
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Sumaya Hisham / Reuters

President Cyril Ramaposa said ANC leadership will in the coming week meet with its provincial deployees in the embattled North West to discuss issues surrounding premier Supra Mahumapelo.

Ramaphosa said the party's leadership will also meet with Mahumapelo directly.

"The issue is being managed, it is being handled. We are going to be meeting with our comrades there. We are going to have deep discussions about this whole process and in the coming week we will be addressing the challenges and we will resolved the issues of the North West," he said.

"And we are going to have discussions with Supra Mahumapelo."

Ramaphosa was speaking to the media on the sideline of an early morning walk with hundreds of residents from the White River municipality in Mpumalanga on Saturday.

North West provincial ANC leadership, after a meeting earlier this week, remained adamant that Mahumapelo "is not going anywhere" despite instructions for him to resign.

Mahumapelo announced his intention to leave office in the media following pressure from President Cyril Ramaphosa and the party's top structures, but made a swift U-turn on Wednesday morning when an urgent meeting of his provincial executive committee [PEC] was called.

After the meeting, the PEC banded behind Mahumapelo, shoving the ANC's national leadership and Ramaphosa into a corner.

The PEC has placed Mahumapelo on administrative leave, also giving him the mandate to appoint an acting premier in his place. It did not say how long he will be out of office.