RAMATHUBA CHOSE TO UNITE WHEN SHE HAD THE POWER TO PURGE — SHE DESERVES FLOWERS

Mpho Dube
8 minutes ago
4 min read

***LEADERSHIP: When others expected division, Premier Dr Phophi Ramathuba chose unity. She put the ANC and Limpopo first. For that, she deserves her flowers.***

By Mpho Dube, Editor-in-Chief

The Azanian | Truth. Fearless. Unfiltered.

AZANIAFROCOMEDIA – The Catalyst of Impact

In politics, absolute power reveals character.

Limpopo Premier Dr Phophi Ramathuba today holds absolute power in this province. She is Premier of Limpopo and she is Provincial Chairperson of the African National Congress in Limpopo. She is the first woman in the history of this province to hold both positions at the same time.

History tells you why that matters. When she ascended to the Premiership in June 2024, she was only a Provincial Executive Committee member of the ANC. The Chairperson then was former Premier Stan Mathabatha. That arrangement was deliberate — to avoid two centres of power. One centre in government, another centre in the party.

Today, Ramathuba is both centres.

Any student of power knows what happens next. When leaders consolidate both party and state power, they purge. They remove everyone who was not with them. They fill the cabinet with loyalists. They become power drunk.

Ramathuba did the opposite.

On 02 September 2026, she reconfigured her Executive Council. She did not purge. She retained the core. She retained six MECs, redeployed two, and brought in only three new ones. She consulted the ANC Provincial Executive Committee.

Two of the new MECs are senior ANC officials — Deputy Provincial Secretary Pule Shayi and Provincial Treasurer Eddie Maila. That is not a power drunk leader. That is a smart, intellectually pregnant leader who can read dynamics very well.That is why she deserves flowers.

Let us deal with the noise.

The first noise came from the ANC Youth League. The ANCYL campaigned for its Provincial Chairperson Faith Sebopela to be deployed to the Executive. When she was not appointed, the ANCYL felt snubbed. I understand that feeling. Youth must be represented.

But the facts answer that noise. The ANC in Limpopo already has youth representation in government. MEC Tonny Ernest Rachoene is a former ANCYL Provincial Chairperson who graduated to become a PEC member of the ANC. He was appointed MEC in 2024 when Ramathuba first became Premier. He was retained in this reconfiguration because he is a hard worker. The ANC has already shown it believes in youth, but on merit, not on pressure.

You cannot claim youth is ignored when youth is already in the cabinet.

The second criticism came from the ANC Women's League and the Veterans League over the composition of the new Executive. The Leagues noted that the reconfigured Executive now comprises four women and six men, down from six women previously. ANCWL Provincial Secretary Tebogo Mamorobela said she was disappointed and would seek an audience with Premier Dr Phophi Ramathuba. Some senior ANC leaders alleged that Mamorobela had ambitions to be appointed as an MEC and is discontent after not being included in the new cabinet.

Veterans League Secretary Sechaba Nkoana said he was alarmed.

I respect the Women's League. I respect the Veterans. But they are counting only one arm of the state and missing the bigger picture of what women from the ANC have achieved in Limpopo.

The state is divided into three separate arms to balance power and prevent abuse, as every school learner is taught: The Legislature which makes, changes and passes laws and watches over the work of the Executive; the Executive which carries out and enforces the laws and runs departments; and the Judiciary which interprets the laws and applies justice.

In Limpopo today, women from the ANC lead across those arms. The Executive is led by Premier Dr Phophi Ramathuba herself. The Legislature is led by women. Dr Makoma Grace Makhurupetje has been Speaker of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature since 2024. She is a PEC member of the ANC in Limpopo and a member of the ANC Women's League.

Her Deputy Speaker is Tebogo Mamorobela herself — the same Provincial Secretary of the ANCWL who is complaining about regression. Both Speaker and Deputy Speaker are women. Both are from the same movement. That is rare in this country. How do you complain about regression when you yourself are Deputy Speaker leading the Legislature?

This is what happens when people count MECs only and forget that the ANC Women's League is a league of the ANC. The mother body is the ANC in Limpopo.

The mother body, through Provincial Secretary Vhamusanda Reuben Madadzhe and Provincial Spokesperson Tonny Ernest Rachoene, officially welcomed this reconfiguration on 02 September 2026 as an important step to strengthen service delivery.

The mother body reports to ANC National, which is led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, President of both the ANC and the Republic. When the mother body has welcomed, the leagues cannot create a separate centre of power.

And let us be honest about Ramathuba's record on gender parity.

A senior government source reminded me: "Ramathuba is the only woman in all the provinces who understands the language of gender parity to the letter. When she was elected in June 2024 she appointed four more women as MECs, two women to lead the Legislature as Speaker and Deputy Speaker, had a woman police commissioner and a woman chief of staff. She appoints on merit, skill and capability."

She does not appoint on gender alone. She appoints on merit, skill and the capability to deliver with precision.

You will not find many leaders in this country who hold both Premier and Chairperson positions and are not arrogant. Ramathuba had every prerogative to purge everyone and start afresh. She chose to unite. She chose stability. She chose to retain the core.

In a province that was once notorious for two centres of power, she has brought one centre of principled, consultative leadership. She is not power drunk. She is smart. She is intellectually pregnant. She can read the dynamics.

For that, she deserves flowers.