A clash has erupted between ActionSA president Herman Mashaba and Kwena Mangope, his North West regional right-hand man and the party’s member of the North West provincial legislature, that threatens to see the two part ways as political allies. This is after Mashaba asked the MPL to resign for allegedly neglecting his duties as a public representative. ActionSA said Mangope failed to support party councillors in Ditsobotla local municipality, but he said he was unable to support them because ActionSA provincial chair Thabo Nkashe stood in his way to undermine his work.
The tension arose after Mashaba told him to resign immediately. ActionSA top leadership also accused him of being absent from office for a long time without providing an explanation. Mangope acknowledged his absence but said it was compulsory for him to serve a 12-month mourning period as Kgosi (chief) of Bahurutshe Boo-Manyane tribe.
He had to stay home and perform no duties during a mandatory traditional mourning period required of him by his ancestors as the chief of his tribe. He said this is an ancestral obligation which he communicated to Mashaba’s office in writing. Mangope said it demanded his seclusion and prohibited him from undertaking public engagements and political campaigning.
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“To violate this custom would be to desecrate sacred Setswana tradition and undermine my custodianship of traditions ordained from our foundational ancestors. “My ability to serve is temporarily impacted by this cultural mandate, not by a lack of commitment,” Mangope said. Mangope, the son of the late Bophuthatswana homeland leader Lucas Mangope, also hit back at the ActionSA top leadership for targeting him after he demanded accountability for funds from his constituency office allegedly used at the top rather than spent and accounted for by the constituency office. Mangope refused to account to the legislature as required by law because he did not have direct control over the money.
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