ANC clamps down on slates
Race for party’s top leader to be controlled at national level
THE ANC has resolved to keep regional and provincial leaders at bay during the nomination process of leaders in the run-up to its elective conference in December to prevent them from possibly manipulating the outcome.
The party’s national executive committee (NEC) has decided to consolidate branch nominations nationally and not at regional and provincial levels‚ as was previously the case.
According to a statement after an NEC lekgotla‚ read out by secretarygeneral Gwede Mantashe yesterday‚ ANC branches would be able to nominate their preferred candidates for leadership uninhibited.
The move is also intended as a measure against the practice of “slate politics”‚ where processes of the party were deliberately undermined to deliver a manufactured leadership outcome.
Regional and provincial leaders would effectively be reduced to mere observers of the nomination process.
In line with its 2016 [National General Council] resolution that the branch was the basic unit of the ANC‚ that slates must be outlawed and serious action taken to prevent and deal with the practice of slates‚ the NEC resolved to do away with consolidating nominations for leadership at a regional and provincial level.
All nomination for leadership from branches will be consolidated nationally by the Electoral Commission‚” said Mantashe‚ reading from the statement.
“Regions and provinces can observe. The reason we are taking this route is because‚ if we don’t do this‚ we are going to have nominations driven by slates,” he continued.
The decision by the NEC comes in the wake of the rise of a faction colloquially known as the Premier League – comprising the premiers of North West Supra Mahumapelo‚ David Mabuza of Mpumalanga and Ace Magashule of Free State.
They are backed by the ANC Youth League and the ANC Women’s League in their preference for outgoing African Union Commission chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as the next president of the ANC.
Opposing them is a faction that wants Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed President Jacob Zuma in December.
Ramaphosa’s leadership ambitions have support from labour federation Cosatu‚ although its members can only propel him to the ANC presidency using their party membership.
However‚ Mantashe dismissed the names being bandied about in relation to the party’s succession race as mere products of speculation.
He said they would only become official contenders if nominated by branches of the ANC. — TMG