Lobbying as the ANC heads to Nasrec

Supporters of candidates vie for votes as buses haul them in

LOBBYING is the name of the game ahead of tomorrow’s start to a watershed ANC elective conference as those supporting either Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa or Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma seek the upper hand.

This while opponents of re-elected provincial chairperson Ace Magashule seek to nullify the outcome of the provincial congress in the Bloemfontein High Court.

Should the court grant their application for an interdict, the ANC’s Free State provincial executive will not be able to participate in this weekend’s conference.

A member of the Western Cape provincial executive said delegates to the conference were expected to arrive only today.

“There is last-minute lobbying happening right now, in the buses on their way to Nasrec,” said the senior ANC leader.

One of the sticking points raised earlier this week was the matter of adopting credentials for voting delegates.

ANC Western Cape secretary Faiez Jacobs, a Ramaphosa supporter, insisted that only branches which have had quorating branch general meetings would be able to participate in the conference.

An insider working on the Ramaphosa campaign said attempts at manipulation would be monitored very closely.

“The S-G’s (Gwede Mantashe) office is on to it, especially where branches were not part of the PGCs and didn’t take part in the nominations process,” said the official.

He said provinces were now tallying their numbers of delegates to see how many they could get into the conference.

“It’s going to be sneaky but that’s the nature of the beast, people will try and do everything to sneak in delegates,” said the insider.

While Ramaphosa leads the race with 1 861 branch nominations after the conclusion of the provincial general councils, Dlamini Zuma’s supporters were confident she would overtake him despite her 1 309 branch nominations, aided by Mpumalanga’s “Unity” 223 branch nominations.

The figures are not indicative of actual delegate votes as branches that exceed 250 members are granted two delegates.

Seven presidential hopefuls have put up their hands to take over from Zuma, but Ramaphosa and Dlamini Zuma have emerged as front runners.

Voting takes place on Sunday.

IT’S GOING TO BE SNEAKY BUT THAT’S THE NATURE OF THE BEAST, PEOPLE WILL TRY AND DO EVERYTHING