Power struggles delay conferences

GAUTENG: ANALYST SURPRISED BY ANC’S DECISION

‘The current leadership in the province is not as strong as it appears.’

As Gauteng postpones its ANC regional conferences to assess the readiness of the structures to hold the crucial elective meetings, an expert has suggested the party in general is facing a massive leadership transition that has caused political instability at various levels.

Political analyst Dumisani Hlophe said Gauteng was not usually a crisis-prone province so the postponement of the ANC regional conferences that were scheduled for this weekend was a surprise.

Hlophe attributed the problem to a leadership transition from provincial chair Paul Mashatile to his successor, most likely David Makhura. Mashatile was elected as treasurer-general at the party’s Nasrec national conference and Makhura, his deputy, became acting chairperson.

“For me, Gauteng is a reflection of transition, there are those who believe the current faction is easy for the [taking], some feel it is not as strong it appears,” Hlophe said.

Yesterday, ANC Gauteng provincial spokesperson Motalatale Modiba said the conferences were postponed for the provincial executive committee (PEC) to assess the state of readiness by the regions to hold those conferences.

He said that before the conferences were held, the PEC had to see to it that all disputes lodged during the branch general meetings were resolved by the dispute resolution committee, a national audit process must be completed and all logistics and political preparations had to be in order.

“There is no [national executive committee] resolution to postpone these regional conferences, this is not an NEC issue, but it is the PEC that will determine whether these conferences go ahead ... after satisfying itself about their readiness,” Modiba said.

The PEC would do the assessments over at least two days.

Hlophe said the ANC was facing political instability caused by transitional moments at regional and even at national level. He said the party was unable to move smoothly from Mashatile to the next leader because the Mashatile faction had been dominant in Gauteng for years. Similarly, such instability existed in Free State and KwaZulu-Natal, while North West is about to face its own transition crisis.

He attributed the Gauteng problem to lack of a dominant faction. “Until a particular faction in Gauteng, KZN and Free State emerges, there is going to be this problem,” Hlophe said, adding the ANC crisis was caused by clambering for senior leadership positions. –