Limpopo premier Stan Mathabatha has retained his position as ANC provincial chair after he was elected unopposed.
Mathabatha was the only official on the top 5 whose position was not contested at the provincial elective conference held at The Ranch Lodge outside Polokwane at the weekend.
Mathabatha had faced a last-minute surge for the provincial top job after entertainer Papa Penny threw his name in the ring on a ticket driven largely by tribalism.
But the Tsonga disco king whose real name is Eric Nkovhani, failed to get enough support.
Another challenger Falaza Mdaka, a former convenor of the province after the disbandment of the Provincial Executive Committee during former premier Cashel Mathale’s era, withdrew just before the nominations process.
Mdaka told News24 he decided to withdraw from the race for the sake of the unity in the province. He admitted that he had entered the race way too late after the branch nominations were concluded.
“It was going to be very difficult to convince the branches after the nominations so I spoke to my regional secretary to inform him that it’s best to withdraw,” he said.
The withdrawal, and the failure by Papa Penny to reach the threshold cleared the way for Mathabatha.
However, the other positions were contested. The deputy chair pitted Florence Radzilani and Jerry Ndou with the latter tipped to clinch the post.
The provincial secretary position was contested by Lehlogonolo Masoga against Soviet Lekganyane after the former secretary Nocks Seabi failed to get a nomination.
Seabi is a known Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma campaigner in the province and this is widely seen as what cost his position.
Another known Dlamini-Zuma campaigner who was Seabi’s deputy Makoma Makurupetja also didn’t meet the threshold to get onto the ballot paper.
It remains to be seen if the two will make into the PEC.
This left Basikopo Makamu and Phophi Ramathuba to battle it out for deputy secretary with the former heavily tipped to emerge victorious.
Danny Msiza was pitted against Seaparo Sekoati for the treasury position.
The conference moved into a jubilant gear after news trickled in that an interdict application to halt the conference has been struck off the roll with costs.
Although the matter was struck off the roll as not urgent delegates, who had been tense all day were suddenly in a celebratory mood.
The conference proceeded without any stand out factionalism and is to be concluded on Sunday with President Cyril Ramaphosa expected to address the delegates.