W Cape ANC divided on Zuma
THE ANC’s leadership in the Western Cape is divided over a second term for Jacob Zuma, with provincial chairman Marius Fransman publicly endorsing the president’s re-election and provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile calling for change.
Party leaders are going all out in some provinces to punt their preferred candidates after the ANC’s nomination process officially opened this week.
Mjongile said there was a lot of “subjectivity” among those calling for a second term for Zuma and other top ANC leaders, and that most of those pushing for the status quo were themselves “sitting in a comfortable position” – a reference to Fransman, who is deputy minister of international relations.
“Change is inevitable,” said Mjongile.
Fransman was quoted by Eyewitness News as saying: “I’m not supporting any radical change in the leadership. I believe that the president must get a second term, but it is up to the branches.”
Mjongile said Fransman’s public endorsement of Zuma was a “personal preference”.
“At least he’s not speaking on behalf of the province, he’s speaking on behalf of himself. The provincial executive committee (PEC) will meet [tomorrow] and make a pronouncement,” said Mjongile.
The Western Cape has been allocated 170 delegates for Mangaung and seems unlikely to wield much influence, but this figure could increase as the ANC is to decide today on how to divide an additional 416 delegates among the provinces.
Nominations close on October 29. Provinces must conclude all branch general meetings by November 30, which will be followed by provincial general councils.
Provincial general councils are provincial meetings that will decide on consolidated lists of nominees and the mandate to be taken to the national conference in Mangaung in December.
Mjongile said the PEC had
not yet had an opportunity to discuss leadership since nominations opened.
“But the issue of a generational transition is an urgent question confronting the ANC. If you speak about organisational renewal, how do you respond to that?
“We need to take the ANC to a higher plane. In my view the ANC is spoilt for choice [of leadership]. But the issue of change is inevitable, from the older generation to the generation after that,” said Mjongile.
He said the challenge for the ANC was to renew its image “and those values that are being lost”.
“As much as branches can elect their preferred leaders, one cannot undermine the role of leadership. So the PEC will begin to discuss details and specific names,” said Mjongile.
The Western Cape ANC has been in disarray for some time and the audited membership fig- ures released by the ANC on Friday show the number of members in the province continues to decline. The ANC in the Western Cape now has just over 38 000 members.
Members are also unhappy, blaming the ANC’s auditors for unfairly disqualifying Western Cape branches.
The ANC Youth League has been the most vocal and prominent structure of the party in the province and publicly embarrassed Zuma by disrupting the ANC centenary lecture he was delivering at the Good Hope Centre in January.
The league is also the most vocal about pushing for leadership change at Mangaung.
Mjongile, a former youth league leader, said the “generational change” was not about “which individual is in the top six”.
“We need to rejuvenate the image of the ANC and we can’t do that by recycling [leaders]. And what were branches saying at the policy conference? They said they wanted change,” said Mjongile.
Fransman did not respond to calls and messages requesting his comment yesterday.