Mpumalanga ANC vote in doubt
Regions claim their focus is on local polls
Plans by the Mpumalanga ANC to forge ahead with an elective conference next week could once again go up in smoke as many branches have failed to hold their nomination branch meetings in the province.
Two of the three regions in the province have said they needed more time to select their preferred candidates as they had been preoccupied with preparations for the upcoming local government elections.
ANC provincial spokesperson Sasekani Manzini said the structure was now preparing to hold the elective conference after the national leadership looked into the problems of violence which plagued branch meetings.
“We could not continue last month, with the violence that has been happening. We are making final preparations now for the conference and we will meet to finalise the way forward,” Manzini said.
The provincial structure last held its elective conference in 2015 where deputy president David Mabuza was re-elected chair unopposed, before moving to Luthuli House when he was elected ANC deputy president in 2017. Scheduled conferences have been repeatedly cancelled due to internal divisions, violence and chaos in meetings of lower structures.
Mpumalanga is considered crucial for next year’s ANC national elective conference, where President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to seek a second term, as it is the party’s second-biggest province after KZN in terms of ANC membership.
Acting provincial chair Mandla Ndlovu is the frontrunner in the race for the top post, alongside premier Refiloe Mtshweni-Tsipane, which former provincial secretary Lucky Ndinisa is also contesting.
Gert Sibande regional chair Muzi Chirwa, an ally of Ndlovu, who is also vying for the post of provincial secretary, said the provincial executive committee has to cancel next week’s conference as his region had prioritised the selection of councillors for the municipal elections over preparations for the conference.
“There will be a need for the PEC to readjust the conference because we have not reached 70% as the region to be able to send delegates to the conference. It will have to be postponed,” Chirwa said.
While open discussion of national ANC politics and preferences ahead of next year’s elective conference remained hushed in the province, many of Ndlovu’s backers were aligned to suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, while Mtshweni-Tsipane and Ndinisa were backed by Ramaphosa and Mabuza’s allies.
Chirwa expressed confidence that the majority support enjoyed by his faction in Gert Sibande and Nkangala would be enough for Ndlovu’s faction to take over the heavily contested congress.
“We are not concerned about Ehlanzeni because all in all, when you take the collective view of the province, it looks like it is flowing towards one direction,” he said.
Ehlanzeni, which includes Mbombela and Nkomazi subregions, is the biggest ANC region in the province and is viewed as Mtshweni-Tsipane and Ndinisa’s constituency.
Ehlanzeni regional strongman and lobbyist for Ndinisa, Ngrayi Ngwenya, blasted the planned elective conference, saying it would undermine the recently imposed Covid-19 regulations on gatherings, which are limited to a maximum of 100 people indoors and 250 people outdoors.
“We are ready for the conference, but we take this Covid-19 seriously and we cannot defy the decision of President Cyril Ramaphosa on the regulations,” said Ngwenya.
Last month, the Northern Cape ANC held its hybrid elective conference in which delegates were housed in different venues in the province.