North West Premier Lazarus Mokgosi is confronting an intensifying rebellion inside his own provincial executive, as the province’s high court in Mahikeng heard an urgent application on Friday brought by a senior head of department (HOD) who is challenging his suspension by an MEC.
Dr Hans Kekana, head of the community safety and transport management department, has approached the court to contest his precautionary suspension by MEC Wessels Morweng.
The legal showdown is the latest flashpoint in what insiders describe as a pattern of open resistance and parallel power plays within Mokgosi’s cabinet.
Kekana was suspended in a letter dated February 3, with Morweng reaffirming the decision in a second letter on February 5. The MEC cited what he described as a breakdown in service delivery, including failure to resolve long-standing issues around provincial airports, delays in refurbishment projects said to hold job-creation potential, the collapse of scholar transport and several projects allegedly on the brink of collapse. The suspension was framed as a precautionary step pending an investigation.
But Mokgosi swiftly intervened. In a letter addressed to Kekana under the heading “Purported Suspension: Yourself”, the premier made it clear that he does not recognise Morweng’s authority to suspend a head of department.
He reminded Kekana that, in terms of section 12 of the Public Service Act, the “career incidents of all HODs are vested exclusively in the premier”, including the power over appointment, suspension and discipline.
“Accordingly, the MEC has no power or duty to suspend you from work,” Mokgosi said.
The exchange effectively places the HOD between two political principals: an MEC insisting on his removal and a premier instructing him to ignore the suspension.
Kekana’s application now places the dispute squarely before the judiciary, escalating what began as an internal executive clash into a constitutional confrontation over authority within the provincial government.
The case echoes a similar power struggle that erupted last year between Mokgosi and Economic Development MEC Bitsa Lenkopane over control of the North West Development Corporation.
On July 7, 2025, Lenkopane appointed an interim board to the embattled corporation, citing a governance vacuum. The move was seen as bypassing the premier’s office and triggered a fierce standoff. In September 2025, Lenkopane filed an urgent application in the Mahikeng High Court seeking judicial confirmation of her authority to appoint the interim board.
The court granted a provisional order directing Mokgosi and other respondents to show cause by December 4, why the board’s appointment should not stand.
In September last year, Naledi Local Municipality mayor Clifton Groep appeared before Parliament’s joint portfolio committees and levelled serious allegations against the premier and other provincial leaders.
Groep accused Mokgosi of manipulating audit processes to target political opponents and of improperly interfering in the municipal process relating to the appointment of Modisenyane Segapo as municipal manager.
By early November, the North West Provincial Legislature established a special ad hoc committee, complete with an evidence leader and plans for public hearings, to probe the claims against the premier.
Sunday World understands that the investigation recently concluded its evidentiary phase and was moving toward deliberations. Mokgosi finished his testimony on February 14, where he vehemently denied allegations made by Groep. Mokgosi characterised the investigation as a “political smear campaign” intended to hinder his political career ahead of the ANC provincial conference in May.
Taken together, the NWDC court battle, the ad hoc investigation and now the Kekana suspension case paint a picture of an administration under sustained internal strain.
