While the strategic decision by the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) to reconfigure the Western Cape provincial structures has been well received, there are unresolved issues that some hope will not be disregarded.
Secretary-General, Fikile Mbalula, last week announced the disbandment of the party’s Western Cape Provincial Executive Committee (PEC).
The committee is to be replaced by a Provincial Task Team led by former Chairperson, Ebrahim Rasool with the announcement coming ahead of the National General Council (NGC), which will convene from 8 to 12 December 2025 at NASREC, and next year’s local government elections.
Mbalula said the party want to strengthen the party’s branches ahead of the elections.
In a statement on Thursday, the ANC said that the NEC commends the discipline and dedication displayed by ANC structures and members in the Western Cape throughout this period of transition.
“The reconfiguration is not a punitive measure against the PEC but a proactive and corrective step to enhance the movement’s effectiveness in one of the most strategically important provinces of the Republic.”
The party said that this intervention comes at a time when the overall national electoral performance was impacted by a decline in key provinces, including the Western Cape, which saw a 9% drop in results.
The immediate task in the Western Cape is to rebuild ANC branches, leagues, and regional structures so they can function as vibrant instruments of community development and political education.
A source said that they are very happy with the reconfiguration, as the previous ANC PEC had been struggling to re-energise the organisation, due to deep factionalism and a move away from attending to organisational issues.
They said it was the incorrect focus on negotiating who gets what position, and in what municipality, which subsequently left the organisation in utter neglect. Another concern that was raised was the large number of people who have been included in the PTT.
“It’s a big group of people. They may have interpersonal dynamics which should be expected in circumstances such as this… I think our leadership didn’t want to be seen as being punitive by removing others or substituting a directly-elected PEC with a PTT, in complete disregard of the sets of skills (people possess).
“The option was then to augment what existed, and then, the natural result of that is to have a big group of people,(but) where there are more people in on any arrangement, then surely there may be interpersonal dynamics that will come to play,” they said.
The source said some elements of the PTT are part of the party’s problems.
“There’ll no longer be a time when the ANC will enter into a coalition only to facilitate positions for individuals, as opposed to entering into coalitions to better serve the people of the smaller municipalities in the Western Cape.”
The source said that the ANC has been overweighed by selfish interests and personal gratification. They said that they hope the PTT will bring up the issue of candidate selection at the NGC, as the current process is open to manipulation.
“The ANC takes its candidates to what it terms public meetings, where the community is allowed to express its views about those nominated persons. The problem with those meetings is that they can be infiltrated by either criminal elements or by the very detractors of the ANC, and they influence what candidate they want in that area, only to find out that this person was never loyal to the ANC in the first instance.”
Cosatu provincial secretary Malvern de Bruyn, who is part of the PTT as a Cosatu-affiliated member, said they are willing to work with any structure that can take the ANC forward.
“At this stage, we didn’t receive any funny remarks or negative sentiments from the structure. One can then say that people are happy, but ultimately it’s about rebuilding the ANC and rebranding the ANC to ensure that the voters on the ground will once again reconnect with us.
“Ultimately, those who were elected on the PTT know what the mandate is. So if you are there, then it means you must work together irrespective of where you’re coming from,” De Bruyn said.
De Bruyn said that he did not see any issue with the large number of people on the PTT, as there are six regions in the province.
The PTT’s spokesperson, Sifiso Mtsweni, said the team met recently with Mbalula, who has given them their marching orders.
Mtsweni said that a working committee, as well as sub-committee chairpersons have been appointed.
“The structures and members have welcomed the intervention by the NEC as an important step towards uniting and rebuilding the province. The PTT will begin in earnest to plan for the NGC, as well as re-aligning regions in line with the vision established by the NEC.
“Our best strength lies in our ability to unite around Cadre Ebrahim Rasool as the convenor and ensure that we reestablish our relationship with our people on the ground.”
