The Eastern Cape, the ANC’s “spiritual home” is shaping up to be a battleground between supporters of President Cyril Ramaphosa and his likely challenger, Zweli Mkhize.
Mkhize’s gamble to tap into erstwhile Eastern Cape ANC chairperson and premier Phumulo Masualle’s party constituency seems to be paying off in some quarters of the province, which will be taking the second-biggest delegation to the ANC’s elective conference in December.
Sunday World understands that Mkhize’s name is finding resonance in the Alfred Nzo Region, which is taking about 113 delegates to the conference.
The region, according to its secretary Pulelo Mohale has convened about 43 branch general meetings (BGMs) out of 96.
Mohale said 90% of branches that have sat for their BGMs have nominated Mkhize for president, Paul Mashatile for deputy, Masualle for secretary-general and Nomvula Mokonyane for the deputy secretary-general position. The names of Andile Lungisa, Mzwandile Masina and Lindiwe Tshalintshali have also emerged for the role of treasurer-general.
Mkhize already has received the nod from the provincial executive committee (PEC) of his home province, KwaZulu-Natal, which has also endorsed Masualle. The Eastern Cape will take 684 delegates to Nasrec, second only to KZN.
However, it is not all smooth sailing for Mkhize in the Eastern Cape. The province’s biggest region, OR Tambo, has opted for former KZN provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli as secretary-general and Cyril Ramaphosa for the president position. The region, which is taking 195 delegates to the December conference, is the ANC’s second-biggest in terms of number of delegates and is behind KZN’s eThekwini. According to its secretary, Vinny Tsita, the region has convened about 89 BGMs out of 145. Tsita said most branches nominated Ramaphosa for president, Oscar Mabuyane for deputy, Gwede Mantashe for chairman and Ntuli for the position of secretary-general.
Chris Hani Region has convened about 40 BGMs. Its regional secretary Lusanda Sizani said this weekend the region is preparing to convene about 35 BGMs and reach 70%.
Sizani said all 40 have nominated Ramaphosa for president, Mabuyane for deputy, Mantashe for the chairmanship and Ntuli for secretary-general.
It is not clear how many BGMs have been convened. Amathole, Nelson Mandela Bay, Joe Gqabi and Sarah Baartman are yet to respond to questions regarding their BGMs to date.
In the last few weeks, the PECs of Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, North West and Gauteng, among others, have announced their candidates to ascend to the party’s top six positions. The PECs have been meeting to negotiate consensus in the run up to the conference, which will be held at the Nasrec Expo Centre, south of Johannesburg. However, branches are asserting themselves against the choices of leaders the PECs made.
While the top leadership of most provinces – with the exception of KZN – have nominated Ramaphosa for a second term and Paul Mashatile as his deputy, branches were nominating different candidates for other positions. An assessment of the branch nominations by Sunday World shows that one of the emerging trends is that branches in big provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape are going against the grain of the wishes of PECs.
Ntuli, who is seen as aligned to Ramaphosa’s re-election campaign, is also putting on a good showing in KZN’s Moses Mabhida region.
The region’s secretary, Samora Ndlovu, said the current numbers emanating from BGMs showed that while former health minister Zweli Mkhize is leading the race for the ANC presidency, Ntuli is favoured for the position of ANC secretary-general. About 70 branches have convened out of 92 branches in good standing, Ndlovu said.
The nomination of Ntuli goes against the preferred candidate of the KZN PEC, who is Masualle. Ntuli’s nomination has also weakened Mkhize’s campaign as it is going to be hard for KZN to convince other provinces to field two top six positions, the president and the secretary-general positions. Ntuli has been criss-crossing the country in a bid to succeed suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule in December.
He has also found a home in Gauteng, where supporters of former provincial chairperson David Makhura are aggressively pushing his campaign. The Gauteng top brass have already nominated Ramaphosa to keep his position and Mashatile to replace David Mabuza as deputy president.
KZN provincial chairperson Siboniso Duma and his counterparts are hoping their nomination of Masualle will ingratiate them to sections of the leadership of the Eastern Cape.
The ANC’s Mzala Nxumalo region that incorporates the town of Vryheid and uPhongolo are confident that by next week, all the branches will have convened their BGMs.
“About 80 branches qualified and so far 28 of those have convened and 32 of them will sit this weekend. By the look of things, the popular view is that of comrade Khabazela (Mkhize clan name). When we convened our consultative meeting with the subregions, he also emerged as the candidate the branches want,” said
regional secretary Ntokozo Nxumalo.
He conceded that about four branches, particularly in Nongoma and Vryheid, have nominated Ramaphosa for re-election while others have chosen not to nominate and instead allow delegates to apply their own minds.
Leading up to the 2017 Nasrec conference, the region broke ranks with the provincial leadership and supported Ramaphosa for the presidency.
On the other hand, Musa Dladla region, the third-biggest region, said 92 branches have passed the verification process and 24 have already convened.
“The majority of branches should have convened last week but were disrupted due to the strike at head office. But we are confident we will meet the cut-off date. So far, comrade Zweli is emerging stronger in branches. About two branches have also nominated comrade Nkosazana for presidency.”
Musa Dladla is the region known to be a staunch supporter of former president Jacob Zuma.
Sunday World has also established the provincial leadership proposed a meeting with all candidates from KZN to deliberate on working on a single campaign. At the heart of the proposal is the fear that the province might be the biggest loser because of the divisions.
In 2017, KZN failed to have a single official in the top six leadership positions because of the jostling and skirmishes.
Unshackled Zuma can now campaign
The unshackling of former president Jacob Zuma on Friday also presents a new dynamic in the race to lead the ANC. Zuma has already endorsed Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to lead the party and audaciously also suggested his name for the position of national chairperson.
The end of his parole means he is now free to campaign for both himself and candidates of his choice. Zuma still commands a reasonable support in various parts of the country and his influence can make or break Mkhize’s campaign.
The pair were previously political allies, but their relationship has deteriorated over the years mainly because of a perception that Mkhize had endorsed Ramaphosa’s leadership when he served in his cabinet as minister of health before his hasty exit.
Although Zuma has not unpacked his next political programme, one of his staunch supporters and radical economic transformation (RET) faction spokesperson Nkosentsha Shezi said: “Although we have not met with Msholozi and drafted our programme of action, but now that he is a free man, he can speak to the masses and provide much needed ideological compass. He is the man that the masses bestowed the title of Father of RET and he remains a beacon of hope for the countless black majority that languishes in poverty.”
KZN has been allocated 877 delegates, making it the biggest provincial voting bloc at the conference. The trend of branches asserting themselves against the wishes of the provincial leaders came after ANC head of electoral committee Kgalema Motlanthe warned against PECs prematurely announcing their preferred leaders.
Motlanthe said nominations by the PEC were not compliant with the rules and spirit of the ANC constitution, which empowered branches to elect leaders independently and without fear or favour.
ANC spokesperson Dakota Legoete said over 2 500 BGMs of the 4 000 had convened to nominate leaders. A further 750 to 1 000 were expected to sit at the weekend, including those that did not meet their quorum during their first attempt.
“Nominations will be consolidated by the electoral committee at the end of the BGM process at the beginning of November. We are confident ANC branches will meet the deadline,” he said.
Branches have until 25 October to conclude their BGMs to nominate ANC leaders for the December conference.
All in all, 4 250 delegates will attend the December conference in Nasrec, Johannesburg.
Limpopo will have 613 branch delegates, Gauteng will have 502 delegates, Mpumalanga 390, North West 361 delegates to the conference, Free State 301, Western Cape 283 delegates and Northern Cape 239 delegates.
Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Northern Cape have endorsed Ramaphosa to serve a second term but differ on the deputy president position.
The provinces have not said who they prefer as secretary general.
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