Final shuffle before #ANC54
IT’S crunch time for the ANC tomorrow as the party meets for its dog-eat-dog elective conference at Nasrec, near Soweto.
Beset by ugly divisions, lastminute horse trading goes into overdrive today as those supporting either Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa or Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma seek the upper hand.
This happened amid an application in the Bloemfontein High Court, in which opponents of re-elected Free State chairperson Ace Magashule sought to nullify the outcome of the provincial congress.
Lobbying for the top post intensified last night, with one senior ANC leader saying “there is last-minute lobbying happening right now in the buses on the way to Nasrec”.
But fears remained that verifying the credentials of delegates could delay the conference, or even lead to its collapse.
ANC Western Cape secretary Faiez Jacobs, a supporter of Ramaphosa, insisted that only branches which have had quorate branch general meetings would be able to participate in the conference.
An insider working on the Ramaphosa campaign said attempts at manipulation would be monitored very closely.
“The secretary-general’s office is onto it, especially where branches were not part of the PGCs (provincial general councils) and didn’t take part in the nominations process,” said the official.
He said provinces were now tallying their delegate numbers to see how many they could get into the conference.
While Ramaphosa leads the race with 1 861 branch nominations after the conclusion of the PGCs, Dlamini Zuma’s supporters were confident that she would overtake him despite her 1 309 branch nominations, aided by Mpumalanga’s 223 “Unity” branch nominations.
The figures are not indicative of actual delegate votes because some branches that exceed 250 members are granted two branch delegates.
Yesterday, outgoing ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said it was all systems go.
“We are quite happy the conference will go ahead, it will be successful, it won’t collapse… Those who said it will collapse are probably disappointed already,” Mantashe said.
If everything goes according to plan, by Sunday night the nation and the world will know who will be the next ANC president, the man or woman who could be the president of South Africa in 2019 – or even sooner.
A draft programme for the conference shows that nominations for president, national chairperson, secretary-general and treasurer will take place tomorrow afternoon.
The announcement of the results is scheduled for 8.30pm on Sunday.
KwaZulu-Natal ANC chairperson Sihle Zikalala said Dlamini Zuma’s supporters had a mandate to vote for leaders belonging to different camps as additional members of the national executive committee (NEC).
“Jeff (Radebe) and Senzo (Mchunu) will be accommodated in the list of the NEC. The unity will be achieved through accommodating others as additionals,” he said.
Zikalala said ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize, whose deputy president campaign had been rejected by both Ramaphosa and Dlamini Zuma’s camps, would also be accommodated.
“The aim of forging unity is to consolidate the ANC so that it regains the support on the ground and the confidence of the members, and to ensure that there is no split.
“Political preferences should not affect the organisation to a point where other comrades who can play a role and contribute are put aside and isolated.”
KZN will be represented by more than 700 delegates, the majority of them supporting Dlamini Zuma.
Zikalala said they were aware that “bribes for votes” could be a factor to try and convince some of the delegates to betray the mandates of their branches.
Ramaphosa’s camp have also made claims that money would be used to sway his supporters.
Ramaphosa’s lobbyist Mike Mabuyakhulu said his camp would continue to engage with delegates supporting opposition candidates.
THE fate of ANC leaders and delegates in the Free State hung in the balance yesterday as a court heard a case that sought to prevent them from participating in the party’s national elective conference starting tomorrow.
Advocate Dali Mpofu SC, on behalf of 26 ANC branches that were gunning for Free State chairman Ace Magashule, a staunch backer of presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, said the province’s top brass failed to follow their own party constitution when it nominated delegates to the party national elective.
They had urgently asked the High Court in Bloemfontein to declare their participation “illegal and unlawful”.
The 26 disgruntled branches, through their counsel Mpofu, said Magashule and his executive had undermined a court order handed on November 29.
In that order, the High Court ruled that the ANC branch general meetings (BGMs) held between September, October and November “were unlawful, unconstitutional and in breach of the ANC constitution.
“It is declared that the decisions, resolutions and outcome at those meetings are null and void. It is directed that any delegates nominated or appointed in the BGMs at the meeting highlighted are prohibited from attending the national conference to be held on December 16, 2017, and/or the provincial conference scheduled for December 1-3, 2017,” the High Court order stated.
Yesterday, Mpofu argued that said his clients were excluded from those meetings.
But, advocate William Mokhari disagreed. He said Mpofu’s clients’ submission was based on hearsay.
Mokhari, however, came under fire, when he submitted affidavits late in court which supported his version that his clients complied with the court order of November 29.
He said his clients had through their branches submitted affidavits detailing processes which were undertaken to nominate delegates for the national conference.
Judgment was not made at the time of going to press.
Meanwhile, another group of disgruntled ANC members in the North West were waiting for the outcome of their court challenge to prevent 218 delegates from Bojanala region in Rustenburg attending the national elective conference.
Judgment is due today.