One nod for Gigaba, 3 for Masualle
ANC national executive committee member and axed minister Malusi Gigaba received the nod to go back to parliament from one Eastern Cape branch at the provincial list conference.
ANC Eastern Cape chair Oscar Mabuyane emerged top of the nomination list in its provincial public representation, signalling that he was likely to become the next premier.
Noticeably absent from the nomination list was current premier Phumulo Masualle, who was nominated by only three branches.
This time, Gigaba will be hoping to go back as a member of parliament’s national council of provinces. This may be a pipe dream as the province typically gets no more than seven seats in parliament. With only a single branch nomination, voting patterns put Gigaba at the bottom of the list.
Gigaba rose to the top echelons of the ANC before he fell on his sword and resigned in October. Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane found he had violated the constitution and the executive code of ethics when he lied to the court regarding the Fireblade Aviation matter.
Most likely to secure placement if the ANC gets enough support at next year’s elections is communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, who was nominated by 181 of the Eastern Cape branches.
ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi said that delegates voted from 148 names submitted by 461 of the province’s 471 branches in the province-to-province list and 150 from province-to-national.
Of those names, the 63 which received the highest thumbs-up from delegates will be submitted to the national list, as well as 26 from province-to-national, he said.
The ANC in the province convened its list conference on Sunday in the East London City Hall. Ngcukayitobi said counting of votes was currently under way at the provincial headquarters in Calata House.
“The final lists are expected to be presented to the provincial executive committee by Thursday and the media will receive a complete preview on the day,” he said.
Ngcukayitobi said an independent electoral agency was counting the votes working with the provincial list committee. Observers from different regions are also at the vote counting.