Dlamini Zuma chooses banquet over prayer service
ANC PRESIDENTIAL hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma’s campaign appeared to dither in Limpopo last week after she snubbed a prayer service in the Vhembe district and opted for a banquet in Mopani instead.
This follows the recent collapse of the Vhembe regional conference after factions loyal to Dlamini Zuma and those supporting her presidential opponent Cyril Ramaphosa clashed because they couldn’t agree on credentials.
The Vhembe prayer service in the Njhakanjhaka Community Hall in Hlanganani on Wednesday against the killing of women and children in the region was supposed to be led by Dlamini Zuma but was instead led by the ANC’s national executive committee member deployed in Limpopo, Dotty Tlabyawe.
Tlabyawe did not say why Dlamini Zuma had snubbed the prayer service, only that Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who is also the ANC Women’s League treasurer, had also not attended the service.
Addressing hundreds of ANC supporters at a rally in Polokwane on Friday, Dlamini Zuma accepted the endorsements from both leagues, thanking them for showing confidence in her.
“I feel honoured and very humbled, and of course the great part of my life has been of service to the people of South Africa and the ANC, so there is no way I can refuse the responsibility given by the ANC.
“But of course you have to work towards it,” she said, alluding to the ANC’s women and youth leagues to help her gain the party’s presidency.
Dlamini Zuma reiterated her view that the economy remained largely untransformed and urged the ANCYL to rekindle the spirit of its late former president Peter Mokaba to fight for a more inclusive economy.
On Wednesday, Dlamini Zuma received a boost when one of the local traditional leaders gave her the thumbs-up for the presidential position.
At a banquet held at the Karibu Lodge near Tzaneen, Vatsonga Machangani Royal Unity chairperson Hosi Phylia N’wamintwa endorsed her, asserting: “As Vatsonga Machangani royal leaders, we are behind Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to be the next ANC president.
“I think you will make a good female president. I know people will criticise you like they’re doing to me that I’m a female chief. But you must be strong.”
Last week, the regional conference in Vhembe, which could reveal the region’s preferred presidential candidate, collapsed amid ructions over delegate credentials.
According to ANC provincial secretary Nocks Seabi, the regional conference consists of 90% branch delegates and 10% from the regional executive committee (REC) members.
But Ramaphosa’s faction wanted the REC members not to vote, while Dlamini Zuma’s faction wanted all 26 REC members to vote.
The disagreements forced the provincial executive committee (PEC) members to collapse the conference.
“The constitution of the ANC states that the conference is made up of 10% REC members and 90% from the branch delegates, which caused the PEC to collapse the conference as there were disagreements between the REC members who don’t see eye to eye,” Seabi pointed out.