'A day of hope, restoration': Dukwana elected Free State premier 11 ...

Mxolisi Dukwana is the new premier of the Free State.

Almost 11 years after he was dismissed from then-premier Ace Magashule's cabinet, Mxolisi Dukwana was elected as the seventh premier of the Free State on Friday.

He marked the occasion by taking a veiled swipe at his predecessor and nemesis, Magashule, as he delivered his first speech as premier. Dukwana described his election as "a day of hope and restoration".

"It is a day to reclaim our glory and pride," said Dukwana before outlining some of the major scandals that marred Magashule's tenure as Free State premier.

Dukwana said this day would not have been possible without the prayers of the Vrede dairy farmers, "whose project was taken over by gangsters".

He also alluded to the mysterious deaths of municipal workers, whose killers had not been brought to book.

In its report, the Zondo Commission recommended that law enforcement agencies investigate Magashule and Mosebenzi Zwane, who served as Free State premier and Free State agriculture MEC, respectively, at the time of the Vrede dairy project scandal.

A former provincial ANC treasurer, Dukwana was part of Magashule's inner circle until their relationship soured and he was fired from Magashule's cabinet in 2012.

During his testimony before the State Capture Inquiry in 2019, Dukwana said Magashule fired him because he turned down attempts by the then-premier to "reel him into his dodgy dealings with the Gupta family".

"This is indeed your moment, people of the Free State; this is your moment to pick up the pieces, and thank you all for the opportunity to serve at this level," Dukwana said in his maiden speech as premier.

He also used his speech to extend an olive branch to opposition parties, saying members of the opposition had a role to play in pointing out where the ANC-led provincial government was not doing well.

READ | Mxolisi Dukwana is back in the Free State legislature 9 years after Ace Magashule fired him

One of his first tasks is expected to be the dismissal of most of the current MECs. At the Free State ANC conference in January, ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe lamented what he described as a total collapse of governance in the Free State.

In August 2022, Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke warned that the province was in serious trouble and that not one municipality had received a clean audit in the previous five years.

With this in mind, and given that former premier Sisi Ntombela, legislature speaker Zanele Sifuba and nine other MECs failed to make it onto the 35-member Free State ANC executive committee, Dukwana is expected to wield the axe and overhaul the provincial cabinet.

Dukwana was elected Free State premier after defeating DA provincial leader Roy Jankielsohn by 17 votes to seven. Six members of the legislature did not take part in the vote.

READ MORE | Dukwana as premier brings stability by eliminating two centres of power, says Free State ANC

The ANC has a comfortable majority in the legislature with 19 seats, compared to the DA's six, the EFF's four and the Freedom Front Plus' one seat.

The legislature sitting was meant to take place on Thursday after Sifuba convened a special sitting. However, it was delayed by more than two hours before Sifuba indicated that it had to be postponed due to administrative mishaps.

The vacancy was created after the ANC forced Dukwana's predecessor, Ntombela, to resign on Tuesday.

In its communication with Ntombela, the ANC cited her failure to turn around the fortunes of ailing municipalities in the province.

Speaking out for the first time on Thursday following her resignation, Ntombela said there was nothing wrong with being redeployed within the ANC.

She said at an ANC media briefing:

Ntombela also asked the province to support the new premier.