Makhura set to lead Gauteng but other provinces struggle
● Gauteng premier David Makhura is expected to be elected unopposed as the new ANC provincial chairman when the party elects new leaders.
This appears certain after party members who were backing education MEC Panyaza Lesufi for the post acknowledged that his campaign had collapsed.
Lesufi himself denied he had ever been in the running for the post, vacated by Paul Mashatile after he was elected national treasurer-general of the party at its conference in December last year.
“I’m not standing for any position,” Lesufi told the Sunday Times.
Another potential candidate for the post, Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina, is said to have shifted his focus to being re-elected regional chairman. Masina was criticised last year for saying before the December conference that he would rather quit than serve under Cyril Ramaphosa.
Makhura is currently acting chairman of the provincial ANC.
No date has been set yet for a provincial congress to elect new leaders, but a contest is expected for the post of Gauteng deputy chairman between former Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau and economic development MEC Lebogang Maile.
Mpumalanga, Free State and KwaZuluNatal are also gearing up to hold congresses as soon as possible so that new leaders will have time to stabilise the provinces before next year’s general elections.
The ANC in the Free State, whose chairman Ace Magashule is now national secretary-general, was due to elect a new leadership this weekend but the conference has been postponed indefinitely.
The co-ordinator of the provincial task team that is now running the party in the Free State, William Bulwane, said the team would seek direction from the national executive committee meeting next week.
“We will not be opening nominations. Nomination for leaders will be done from the floor of conference,” he said.
The ANC in Mpumalanga is also struggling to replace its chairman, David Mabuza, a powerful leader who is now deputy president. A conference that had been set down for the end of the month has also been indefinitely postponed.
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal is also facing challenges to elect a new leadership after its 2015 conference was overturned by the courts.
The controlling structure now in place is led by Sihle Zikalala, who was elected chairman at the disputed conference, and his rival Mike Mabuyakhulu.