Safe-house plan to keep voters honest
● Members of the two main campaigns for ANC leadership took extraordinary measures ahead of last night’s presidential vote to try to isolate their delegates in North West from vote-buyers.
The Sunday Times can reveal that campaign officials for both Nkosazana DlaminiZuma and Cyril Ramaphosa moved delegates who had committed to their candidates from their homes to specially arranged accommodation several days before they left for Johannesburg.
Campaign staff kept a close watch on the delegates, providing them with necessities such as toiletries, sanitary towels, cool drinks and condoms.
Ramaphosa’s delegates were housed in Klerksdorp, Mahikeng and Rustenburg until buses were ready to deliver them to their accommodation in Johannesburg on Friday.
Dlamini-Zuma’s delegates were booked into the Alpha conference centre in Hartbeespoort on Thursday, ostensibly for a “cadres forum” to discuss policy positions.
But insiders said this was merely a cover for a headcount by provincial ANC bosses who have thrown their weight behind President Jacob Zuma’s preferred candidate.
“People were brought in and told they were attending a cadres forum to discuss policy but it was nothing but a headcount,” one said.
“The intention was to ensure that those who had supported Nkosazana in the provincial general council would continue to support her in the conference,” said one insider.
A Ramaphosa campaign member in North West told the Sunday Times that the decision to keep delegates in Klerksdorp, Mahikeng and Rustenburg was “precisely to protect them from outside influence”.
‘Not in hiding’
“Of course we are protecting our delegates,” the campaign member said.
“We’ve spread them out in places . . . We know what usually happens in these kinds of conferences. We are simply protecting our people.”
But another Ramaphosa campaigner said the accommodation measures were not an attempt to keep delegates in isolation.
“I don’t see that as hiding people. We are simply undergoing preparations for the conference and while things may come across as bordering on being extra cautious, there is nothing out of the ordinary,” this person said.
“Yes, this conference will be highly contested, but it doesn’t mean we should resort to hiding people.”
Dlamini-Zuma won 291 branch nominations in North West, but the Ramaphosa camp believes it can count on more delegates from the province.
Insiders in the Ramaphosa camp conservatively estimate that between 150 and 170 North West delegates will vote for him, while more optimistic aides speak of support from 200 delegates.