/ 11 May 2013

Free State ANC re-elects controversial Ace Magashule

Free State provincial chairperson Ace Magashule.
Free State provincial chairperson Ace Magashule.

Former African National Congress provincial chairperson Ace Magashule was re-elected to the position without any objections on Saturday night.

Huge support for the long-standing provincial leader was expressed when his re-election was officially announced.

In March, it was reported that the province's premier promoted the director general under whom a controversial website deal was conducted to minister of finance.

Elzabe Rockman's promotion to Free State finance minister was part of a Cabinet reshuffle in the province that also saw another of Magashule’s political allies, Benjamin Malakoane, made provincial health minister.

The timing of the move was questionable given calls from the Democratic Alliance for investigations into a slew of communications deals that saw state funds pour into the Letlaka Group.

The communications company, which had a hand in the costly Free State Online website, also runs a pro-government provincial newspaper the Weekly and Hlasela TV, which allegedly gets R12-million annually to broadcast video content to government buildings in the province, the opposition party said.

2012 elective conference rerun
The Free State ANC was rerunning its 2012 elective conference after it was held to be illegal.

A group of six local ANC members successfully challenged the legality of the previous Free State leadership after the last conference.

The group succeeded in getting the Constitutional Court to declare the provincial executive committee's (PEC) decisions and resolutions unlawful and invalid, because the ANC had not addressed certain irregularities about the conference. As a result, the PEC was dissolved.

On Saturday, the other four top leadership position were also nominated and elected unopposed.

They are deputy chairperson Thabo Manyoni, provincial secretary William Bulwana, deputy secretary Mamiki Qabathe and provincial treasurer Msebenzi Zwane.

The top five leaders elected were the same leadership group that was elected at the dissolved conference in 2012.

Some 33 nominations were received from branches for the remaining 30 seats on the PEC.

The conference adjourned for a short while for the delegates to decide which 30 members they would like in the PEC, otherwise the list would go to a vote.

'Lead to unity in the ANC'
Earlier on Saturday, Cyril Ramaphosa told delegates at the Free State ANC's elective conference that divisions within the party would undermine its functioning.

"Unity and discipline combined constitute the cornerstone on which our movement was founded and sustained," the party's deputy president told delegates at the rerun of the conference.

"The conference must lead to unity in the ANC."

Ramaphosa urged delegates to strive for values supported by the African National Congress's leaders in the past.

He said members should understand that divisions within the party would inevitably undermine the effective functioning of the organisation to the benefit of its enemies. – Sapa