Reaksie op die herontplooing van premier Mosioua Lekota en die ondemokratiese wyse van aanstelling van Dr. Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri as sy opvolger

Deel 2: Die ondemokratiese wyse van verkiesing van Dr. Matsepe-Casaburri

Abstract

In the first part of this article a factual historical analysis is given of the redeployment of the Free State Premier, Patrick Lekota, as a result of the unresolvable faction fights within the ANC, the continuing protest  against  his  transfer  and  the  ongoing  “obscurity  concerning  the  objectives  of  the  national  leadership”  in  solving  the  political  debacle.  In  the  second  part  the  background  of  his  successor,  Matsepe-Casaburri,  is  analysed,  as  well  as  the  undemocratic  way  in  which  she  was  forced  into  the  politics  of  the  Free  State,  the  litigation  in  respect  of  Lekota’s  removal,  the  commencement  of  the  Casaburri era and how the serious political fiasco contributed to the consideration of the desirability of  the  fact  that  the  premiership  and  leadership  of  the  party  should  be  seated  in  the  same  person.  The  undemocratic conduct of the national leaders of the ANC was a foreshadowing of the increasing trend to  subordinate  the  Constitution  and  the  existing  provisions  concerning  the  way  in  which  premiers  in  the provinces is appointed to what the leaders of the ANC have previously aimed at and decided upon.
This  article  is  a  critical,  historical  reconstruction  of  the  role  of  the  national  leadership  of  the  ANC  and  the  reaction  of  the  Free  State  community.  The  white-centric  nature  of  the  reporting,  especially  of  the  only  newspaper  in  the  Free  State  which  followed  the  political  drama  closely  and  documented  it,  is  supplemented  as  far  as  possible  by  perspectives  from  other,  more  liberal,  ANC  media  outside  the  province  who  are  well-disposed  towards  the  party.  If  communication  is  about,  among  other  things,  shared meaning by individuals, groups or organisations by openly sharing facts and norms by means of the written and the spoken word, this analysis provides a view on how shared meaning was not reached and optimum communication was by far not pursued or achieved.