By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former North West MEC for human settlement Nono Maloi has defeated the current North West Premier, Bushy Maape, for the position of the African National Congress (ANC) provincial chairperson.
Maloi has obtained 374 votes against Maape’s 294 votes, defeating Maape by 80 votes.
There was an earlier attempt to have Maloyi removed from the race on the basis that he faces a culpable homicide case that emanates from 2018 but was later provisionally withdrawn by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Among Maloyi’s detractors was the Bojanala region which wrote to the IPC requesting that Maloyi be barred from contesting as the case could potentially be reinstated if further evidence emerged.
Maloyi described the attempt to remove him as unfortunate and not applicable in so far as the party’s step-aside resolution is concerned.
The results of his victory were announced on Monday morning at 4am by the IEC at the Rustenburg Civic Centre where the party’s ninth provincial conference is being held.
Lazzy Mokgosi was elected deputy chairperson, amassing 353 votes, compared to Paul Sebegoe’s 311 votes.
Louis Diremelo has been elected the new provincial secretary and the current Public Safety MEC, Sello Lehari, is the new provincial treasurer.
After three postponements and a court interdict, this conference will complete its election on Monday.
It postponed other conference programmes to the end of this month.
It was a clean sweep by the N12 cabal at the Rustenburg Civic Centre on Monday morning after the results were announced of the province’s top five leadership.
This is the first elected leadership in the North West since 2018, when the then-PEC was disbanded and former premier, Supra Mahumapelo, stepped down.