It is official, the ANC premier in Gauteng province has called it quits.
On Tuesday, it was confirmed in a statement that the Gauteng Premier, David Makhura has resigned.
This comes as no surprise as few weeks back, Makhura held a press briefing alongside the new ANC chairperson in Gauteng, Panyaza Lesufi where he announced that he would be handing over to the new ANC leadership.
At that time, it was not known when he would resign as he made it clear that he would be handing over the reigns to the new leadership.
On Thursday, the 5th of October would be the day for Makhura’s resignation to be effective as the legislature would be sitting in to elect a new premier.
It would be remembered that Makhura has been at the helm at the Gauteng province since 2014 as he also got re- elected in 2019.
As Makhura is leaving the office, it is expected that he would be handing over to the new provincial chairperson, Panyaza Lesufi.
It is also expected that on Thursday, the members of the provincial legislature in Gauteng would be tipped to vote him as the new premier.
Makhura’s history with the ANC in Gauteng goes back in 2014 when he was elected as the provincial chairperson.
According to Makhura, he is handing over to Lesufi who is expected to be elected as the premier.
He said that since handing over to Lesufi,he had pondered on how the succession should be handled to ensure it was smooth and seamless.
Makhura has served the ANC as a leader in Gauteng for 22 years, dating 22 to 2000 when he was appointed the coordinator of its then interim leadership structure.
Unlike the ANC in Kwa Zulu Natal, where the elected chairperson, Sboniso Duma opted for the position of being the MEC and the former ANC chairperson Sihle Zikalala opted for an MEC position too instead of resigning, Makhura decided to resign.