ANC WC ‘backs’ Ramaphosa
ANC DEPUTY President Cyril Ramaphosa looks set to receive a boost in his campaign to succeed party leader Jacob Zuma this December, with the Western Cape ANC expected to endorse him.
Independent Media understands that the dissolution of the Dullah Omar Regional Executive Committee (REC) – the biggest ANC region in the Western Cape by membership last week – has paved the way for pro-Ramaphosa forces, most of whom are in the Regional Task Team (RTT), to lobby the province’s branches for a Ramaphosa endorsement.
The disbanded REC has, according to sources, been working closely with the so-called Premier League provinces – Free State, Mpumalanga and North West – which are known supporters of Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma. Following its provincial council at the weekend, the SACP in the Western Cape said the ANC was on “a dangerous declining path”, which would destroy the movement.
“Recent developments in the ANC PEC in the Western Cape represent symptoms of a deeper crisis. First, the divisive tendencies displayed at the aborted provincial policy conference were unfortunate.
“Second, meetings that are held in the dark of night to the exclusion of other PEC members are a major concern.
“Worse still, the fact that leading PEC members, regional leaders and the leagues have distanced themselves from those PEC decisions exposes the depth of the divisions,” the SACP said.
“The perversion of the constitution through the selective approach of dissolving Cape Metro REC while doing nothing in Boland is problematic.
“In fact, the ANC NEC list process report uncovered gross acts of non-registration of candidates and the manipulation of lists. The recommendations of the report must be implemented in full,” the party said.
ANC national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said the party’s national leadership, represented by the officials or the top six, would visit the Western Cape soon after the conference to understand what led to that disbandment “because our view is that we need stability in that province”. A Western Cape delegate at the ANC’s national policy conference (NPC, which began on Friday), Lazola Gungxe, of the disbanded REC unsuccessfully tried to disrupt a closed session chaired by the party’s national chairperson, Baleka Mbete, on Friday and was forced to apologise on Saturday.
“When we had to adopt credentials (for the conference), he (Gungxe) questioned the standing of some Western Cape delegates. He had a heated exchange with the national chairperson. He was instructed to apologise for his conduct,” said a source who asked to remain anonymous. Kodwa acknowledged that “differences” occurred within the closed session, saying the party was a “rules-based organisation”, which delegates had to respect.
“So, it is important that we teach our members discipline because these are chairpersons (of branches and regions) – the future leaders of the ANC.
“They must understand that when there is a chairperson there is a reason that there is a chairperson. A chairperson must run the meeting in an orderly manner, which is what Comrade Baleka Mbete has been doing very well,” he added.
Ramaphosa’s campaigners in the Western Cape met at the St George’s Hotel in Irene, Tshwane, on Saturday where a strategy was adopted to advance the lobbying.
“On Saturday evening, it was confirmed that the CR17 (Ramaphosa) campaign must have a nine-province strategy, which includes contesting ideas even in the Women’s and Youth Leagues,” a source, who also chose to remain anonymous, said. “We believe that there are no provinces that are ‘no-go’ areas. The essence of the campaign is that we are fighting to save the ANC from corrupt tendencies and capture.”
Approached for comment last night, ANC provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs said: “We haven’t endorsed any position. We will wait until the branches nominate someone before we make pronouncement. We have not taken any position regarding this matter.”
The ANC Western Cape has sent a delegation of 155 members to the conference.