68 votes can swing it
ANC LEADERS LOCKED IN TALKS TO STOP CONFERENCE IMPLOSION
SENIOR ANC leaders were locked in day-long talks yesterday to prevent the party’s conference imploding over demands for a voting recount.
Supporters of newly elected party president Cyril Ramaphosa have called for a recount of the votes for the position of secretary-general, claiming their candidate, former KwaZulu-Natal premier Senzo Mchunu, had been cheated.
The grievances emerged on Monday night when it was discovered that 68 “special votes” had been excluded from the final tally.
Mchunu lost to Magashule by 24 votes.
“If the matter is not addressed and reversed, we will be left with no option but to go to court,” said a senior member of the Ramaphosa camp.
Independent Media understands at least three provinces have briefed lawyers to force a recount of the votes for the critical secretariat position. Senior counsel Dali Mpofu has been retained by the Ramaphosa camp’s Limpopo and Free State supporters, while his KZN supporters have approached another lawyer.
“He (Mpofu) has been approached, and he and his team are gathering information. But he has told them (aggrieved pro-Ramaphosa members) to deal with the matter internally but that if that doesn’t work, he can deal with it.”
Confusion, and tension, reigned when the results were announced on Monday night, with Gwede Mantashe in particular baffled by the announcement of Ace Magashule as the man to take over from him. Ramaphosa campaigners were clearly taken aback by the announcement, as they had only anticipated conceding two positions: deputy president and deputy secretary-general.
“We knew that we were not going to win the deputy president because even some of our own people in Mpumalanga voted for Mabuza as they wanted to rid that province of him.”
With the Ramaphosa camp insisting on a recount of the votes, the election steering committee – tasked with the management of the conference – was forced to meet yesterday in a bid to resolve the dispute. By last night, the 18-member committee had failed to reach any consensus.
While the voting of the rest of the 80-member NEC members was taking place, the two factions also held their caucus meetings, where they prepared to battle the matter out at plenary last night.
“What happened is that when 68 delegates arrived at the voting station their names did not appear on the voters roll despite them being properly accredited,” Mchunu’s chief campaigner, Jomo Sibiya, said last night.
“A decision was then taken that these delegates should be allowed to cast special votes. These were then cast, put in envelopes, sealed and put in a box.”
However, when the counting was done, the 68 special votes were not counted.
“These are delegates from Nongoma in KZN, from the Dullah Omar region in the Western Cape and Vhembe in Limpopo and I can tell you all those people supported Mchunu,” said Sibiya. Those calling for the recount were planning to take the issue to plenary, but this was bound to create further tension at the conference as the Dlamini Zuma supporters were also putting up a fight.
Supra Mahumapelo, a staunch Dlamini Zuma backer, said the issue of the votes should have been raised during the counting stage and questioned how Mchunu supporters knew who the 68 delegates voted for.
The matter was expected to be discussed by delegates at the plenary session yesterday. The provinces supporting Ramaphosa, however, vowed not to allow a rerun to happen.
CALLS for ceasefire and unity among warring ANC KwaZuluNatal factions intensified at Nasrec after the province failed dismally to be represented on the party’s Top 6 leadership.
Yesterday, ANC Youth League KZN chairperson Kwazi Mshengu told Independent Media that talks on ending the infighting, which saw a court barring 27 provincial executive committee members from voting, would be held.
Mshengu said it was sad that the divisions had resulted in neither camp getting a single person elected to the ANC’s Top 6.
“The problem of divisions started in Eastern Cape, and look where they are now. This problem moved to KZN, and look where we are now,” he said.
“Going back home we need to sober up and ask ourselves what is in the interest of the organisation and people of KwaZulu-Natal,” he said.
Mshengu said the province would expect Cyril Ramaphosa’s NEC to guide them on how to resolve the court-imposed stalemate.
“This NEC will take a decision based on what we believe is in the best interests of the organisation,” said Mshengu.
Sthembiso Mshengu, the spokesperson for the disgruntled ANC members who sued the KZN PEC, said were ready to talk peace.
“We were the first to call for the negotiations even before we took the matter to court,” said Mshengu.
But Ramaphosa supporters in the province put up a fight over the missing 68 votes which they believe could have helped their candidate Senzo Mchunu become secretary-general.
“Yesterday (Monday) on the first count Comrade Senzo Mchunu emerged, then Comrade Nomvula Mokonyane requested a recount of which the results changed to favour Ace Magashule.
“It shows that 68 voters were missing. It was necessary to find out where the missing 68 ballot papers are, and the steering committee (members) are discussing the issue of counting,” said one of the delegates.
There were fears that the ANC’s weakening in KZN could provide fertile recruiting ground for the IFP.
Political analyst Lukhona Mnguni said despite the ANC having lost prominent KwaZulu-Natal-based leaders the IFP would take years to wrest the province from the ANC.