It doesn’t matter that the ANC’s national elective conference is still eight months away, or that former president Thabo Mbeki said last week that members should focus on serving communities rather than on who gets elected to be a leader. The picture across the provinces shows that there are a lot of fights going on in the party. A lot of people are fighting to get their way at the provincial meetings, which will be a proxy battle for the Durban meeting in December.
He met with the PEC yesterday in the Eastern Cape. The party said it was to look at the results of the local elections last year, which were not good for the PEC, which is why they met.
Ramaphosa has a long year ahead of him as he fights to remain the leader of the governing party. Photo: Sowetan/Esa Alexander/Gallo Images”/>
However, the most important thing about the meetings is that branches and regions are beginning the process of electing leaders who will choose their new leaders in December. After a fight broke out, branch meetings in the province had to be stopped. Ramaphosa was supposed to speak at the meeting, which took place in Mthatha in the OR Tambo region, which is a stronghold of provincial chairperson Oscar Mabuyane. Mabuyane is trying to keep his job despite a strong challenge.
Close to Ramaphosa, people say the fight is between those who support the process of renewal and those who don’t. This is how it’s being said. But some of the splits are caused by personalities in the provinces, not by disagreements about the national leadership. People in the province of Gauteng, where the two most popular candidates are expected to support the return of President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second term, agree with this.
Ramaphosa’s two possible opponents, former health minister Zweli Mkhize and tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu, were seen together at a meeting of “amakhosi and civil society.” This week, one of the biggest branches of the ANC said that they would support Mkhize.
According to the South African Constitution, anyone is innocent until proven guilty by a court of law. When asked about the Digital Vibes scandal, the branch’s leaders said that anyone is innocent until proven guilty by a court of law. Until now, no court has decided whether or not Mkhize is guilty. Branch chairperson Mbongi Hlongwa used Mkhize’s ancestral name when he spoke. So, there is nothing that can stop him from running for president. Khabazela will be ANC President Khabazela will close the December ANC meeting.
It looks at how things have been going in the province so far.
LIMPOPO
Stan Mathabatha, the current chair, looked like he was going to stay on as chair for a while. But now, a new lobby group is starting to fight against him. Danny Msiza, a former VBS Mutual Bank suspect, is now part of Mathabatha’s group. This has made the group that wants to challenge Mathabatha angry.
This isn’t true yet, though. All the groups in the province want Ramaphosa to stay and run again. They want Mathatbatha to be Limpopo chair at their conference, then be nominated for national chair at the national conference in December.
Dickson Masemola, Soviet Lekganyane, and Pule Shayi, the ANC regional chair and mayor of Mopani, are three of the people who could challenge Mathabatha.
GAUTENG
In the past, David Makhura has said that he won’t be running for reelection because he wants to be a leader on a bigger scale. If he were to become secretary-general, his name might come up. He’s not interested in the job. His resignation has sparked a long-running feud between his deputy Lesufi and the PEC’s current leader, Maile, whose supporters dominate the current PEC.
As of the 2019 election, the ANC had 50.19 percent of the vote in the province. This means that the province is very close to being taken over by the opposition. In the past, it was always the case that winning the provincial contest did not guarantee the winner the top spot, but this time around it might be different.
Maile and Lesufi aren’t known to have a lot of ideological disagreements. They both support the return of Ramaphosa as president, and they would both vote for him.
KWAZULU-NATAL
Those who want Ramaphosa to stay as president and those who don’t want him to be president are split in the party’s largest province. They haven’t yet decided on a new candidate for president. In the eyes of his fans, Mkhize should represent South Africa in the ANC’s top six. Senzo Mchunu, the Water and Sanitation Minister in the province, isn’t popular with everyone in the area.
In 2017, Ace Magashule won the Nasrec conference. Mchunu came very close to taking the title, but lost out. Also, current provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli has been praised for being ready to become party secretary-general.
It has been a month since Mkhize’s backers have been trying to get people to back him. A big branch with up to 4 000 members in ward 1 in KwaXimba said that they would make sure that he became president in December.
Branch leaders said they were waiting for the ANC to set rules for nominations in the race for the next leader. But, Hlongwa said, there’s nothing that stops them from meeting and having fun with each other. He said that the branch agreed that Mkhize met the minimum leadership standards set out in the ANC’s Through the Eye of a Needle guide.
THE FREE STATE
The provincial interim structure is rebuilding itself after the PEC was disbanded a year ago, so now it needs to figure out what to do next. A group led by Magashule and his allies broke up, and Magashule’s enemies came back. Mxolisi Dukwana, who is now in charge of the interim group’s leadership, is one of them.
There is also going to be a conference in the province next month. Mbeki told members last week that it was more important to build the ANC and deliver services than to worry about who is elected to office. However, this is not likely to stop the knives from being sharpened as the provincial conference nears. The group that supports Ramaphosa is in charge now, but they could still face a fight at the conference.
THE EASTERN CAPE
Current PEC treasurer Babalo Madikizela, who is also the MEC for public works and infrastructure, is set to run against Mabuyane for the chair of the party. Madikizela has a head start because he got support from four out of five regional executive committee meetings that chose their new leaders last year and said he should replace Mabuyane.
In addition to Mlibo Qoboshiyane, who used to be an ANC official in the province and is now a deputy speaker in parliament, there is a third group in the province that is seen as possible. As soon as next month, the provincial meeting is supposed to happen.
If Mabuyane wins, he will get a lot of help from Chris Hani, Sarah Baartman, and WB Rubusana, who live in his home region.
A group in the ANC called the radical economic transformation (RET) faction has smeared Mabuyane because of his support for Ramaphosa, he told City Press. Before the December meeting, the group had infiltrated the province, he said. They wanted to divide and paralyze the province before the meeting, so that it wouldn’t be as strong and united as it was in 2017.
For the rest of the term, “the so-called “RET” faction has made me their project,” he said.
MPUMALANGA
A branch audit is going on in Mpumalanga as they prepare for the long-overdue elective conference that is coming up. As soon as they reach the 70% mark, the date for the conference will be set. It’s now up to acting chair Mandla Ndlovu, Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tshwene, Lucky Ndinisa, and Peter Nyoni to be the next chairperson.
Focus leader Ndlovu is more likely to face off against Ndinisa, the face of the Ngci party, which has the support of Deputy President David Mabuza. All the groups in the province are likely to unite and fight Ngci because they are tired of Mabuza’s control over the area.
NEAR NORTHERN CAPE and NEAR NORTH WEST
There are still a few provinces that haven’t put their colors on the line. The Northern Cape ANC chairwoman, Zamani Saul, is expected to be one of the first to show her support for a second term. There will be a lot of fighting in the North West because no group is currently in charge. Supra Mahumapelo, the former chairperson and prime minister, will be hard for anyone who wants to win.
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ANC leadership race heats up | Citypress (news24.com)
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