Editorial comment:
ONCE the stun grenade smoke had dissipated, the broken chairs were collected and the blood wiped off the floor of East London’s International Convention Centre, the ANC finally got around to electing its provincial leaders.
The vote for chairman went the way of former Eastern Cape party secretary Oscar Mabuyane, but not before two days and nights of routine ANC mayhem.
Unsurprisingly, Nelson Mandela Bay metro councillor Andile Lungisa featured prominently in the unfolding disruptions as it became clearer with each passing hour that Mabuyane, and not incumbent chairman Phumulo Masualle, was heading for the popular vote.
Lungisa, as The Herald readers know, is facing criminal charges following last year’s infamous council brawl which left two DA councillors bloodied and council chambers upended.
A Masualle man and in the Jacob Zuma camp, Lungisa protested against the credentials of delegates from branches perceived to be in support of Mabuyane.
The cynical ploy dragged proceedings out until midnight on Saturday when the gathering, frustrated by the interminable delays, exploded into violence.
This is not to lay the blame for the bloodshed at Lungisa’s feet. But given the dynamics of national ANC politics, underpinned as they are by the growing desperation of Zuma’s faction, defeat was unlikely to be taken moderately.
As if to ram home the point that this ballot was about much more than a new provincial executive, deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa put in an appearance alongside a triumphant Mabuyane, adding ballast to his campaign to succeed Zuma.
A court challenge to the results notwithstanding, Ramaphosa must be feeling quite chipper as the party’s national conference in December approaches.
Equally, Zuma will be reading the tea leaves and undoubtedly pondering his options should his bid to have ex-wife Nkosazana DlaminiZuma installed as party leader fail.
With more than two months to go, the shameful scenes in East London have an air of foreboding about them.
Already, the year of Oliver Reginald Tambo is being remembered for all the wrong reasons.