Provincial political jostling is in full force as the ANC plans its year ahead

Provincial manouevring has started in earnest as all ANC roads lead to the December elective conference. Old and new names have been thrown in the ring as the slates emerge to back one faction or another in the party. However, there are some casualties that are already looming and could be detrimental to either faction as the provinces plot their way to their elective conferences in the coming months and look towards the showdown at the end of the year.

As the jostling continues, Paddy Harper outlines some of the important provincial political players — including those awaiting trial for corruption — who will take centre stage in building support for whoever become the next leaders of the ANC. 

Eastern Cape

As the ANC pushes ahead with its regional and provincial conferences, a third contender has emerged in the battle for the post of chairperson of the Eastern Cape, one of the party’s largest and most influential provinces.

Mlibo Qoboshiyane, the deputy speaker of the Eastern Cape Legislature, has also entered the running for chairperson and is expected to accept nomination at the provincial conference, scheduled for the end of March.

Qoboshiyane is a former agriculture MEC and provincial ANC spokesperson, who served two terms on the provincial executive committee and was part of the faction led by former chairperson  Phumulo Masualle that was defeated at the 2017 provincial conference.

Thus far, the contest for Eastern Cape chairperson had been a two-way race between incumbent Oscar Mabuyane, a Ramaphosa backer, and provincial treasurer Babalo Madikizela, an ally of former ANC treasurer Zweli Mkhize.

The two contested the infamous 2017 “conference of chairs” on the same slate, with the province backing Ramaphosa for the ANC presidency. 

Madikizela’s region was the first to back Mkhize’s short-lived campaign for the ANC presidency ahead of the Nasrec conference.

This December the Alfred Nzo region backed Madikizela for chairperson, but also endorsed Ramaphosa for a second term as president. 

Late last year the Mail & Guardian reported that the shift of support to Madikizela might not be a disaster for Ramaphosa, because key regional and provincial leaders from the radical economic transformation (RET) faction and Mkhize’s backers have been discussing returning Ramaphosa as president, but ring-fencing him with a NEC and top six dominated by their people.

Qoboshiyane confirmed this week that he had been approached by branches that intended to nominate him as chairperson at their upcoming branch general meetings. 

Three of the province’s seven regions still have to hold their conferences before the provincial conference sits.

“Branches and senior comrades in the provinces have approached me to stand when the nomination process opens officially from the 23rd. I have agreed that I will accept nomination to serve in the leadership of the ANC in the province as determined by the outcome of the province,” Qoboshiyane said.

Qoboshiyane will head a slate that also includes education MEC Fundile Gade as deputy; former ANC Youth League leader Ayanda Matiti as secretary; Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Eugene Johnson as deputy secretary and transport MEC Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe as treasurer.

KwaZulu-Natal

In KwaZulu-Natal, premier and ANC chairperson Sihle Zikalala appeared to be becoming increasingly isolated ahead of the provincial conference, which will take place after the six regions that have not yet held conferences have wrapped up their elective meetings.

Zikalala had led the dominant faction in the province, which backed Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for ANC president in 2017, but was elected on a “unity” ticket when the provincial conference was rerun in June 2018.

Since then, Zikalala has failed to consolidate his position and has instead lost support from the pro-Ramaphosa faction in the province and his former allies in the RET grouping.

A source in the provincial leadership said that the situation had “escalated” and that Zikalala had found himself without allies in either camp.

“He has been in trouble for some time. Now, it looks like things have escalated,” the source said. 

Early discussions around a “unity” slate for the conference, headed by Zikalala as chair, have come up with a formulation that includes Siboniso Duma as deputy chair; sitting secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli as secretary; Kwazi Mshengu, the RET-aligned education MEC, as deputy secretary and former eThekwini chairperson Zandile Gumede as treasurer.

However, all indications are that the RET faction in the province is not interested in a unity deal with its former ally.

Instead, the RET grouping will nominate its own slate. 

Its early formulations have identified treasurer Nomusa Dube-Ncube as chairperson; or  eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda as chairperson, with Dube-Ncube as his deputy.

The Ramaphosa faction’s initial slates have identified transport MEC Peggy Nkonyeni as a potential candidate for chairperson, as well as Emalahleni ANC regional chairperson Ntuthuko Mahlaba.

Whether Gumede contests the provincial leadership will depend on the outcome of the eThekwini region’s elective conference, which is likely to be held in February..

Gumede has been nominated by the bulk of the RET-aligned branches in the region, the ANC’s largest and most influential with 111 branches, despite being out on bail on corruption charges. 

The province, which had recalled Gumede as eThekwini mayor, has allowed Mahlaba and other leaders to contest conferences despite being out on bail on criminal charges, and the same standard is expected to be applied to Gumede at conference.

Gumede will face Thabani Nyawose, who leads the Ramaphosa faction in eThekwini, in a  two-way battle for the chairperson’s post.

A source in the RET camp in eThekwini said that Gumede was the only candidate who had been nominated as chairperson by the branches aligned to them thus far, with only a dozen branches still having to complete their branch general meetings ahead of the conference.

“Zandile Gumede is the only candidate that our branches have nominated as chairperson,” the source said. 

Conference roadmap

On Monday, the ANC’s national working committee (NWC) met and asked the party’s treasurer general, Paul Mashatile, to take over the duties of deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte, who is recovering from illness.

The work had thus far been done by a combination of senior Luthuli House staff and members of the NWC in her absence. Duarte took over the secretary general’s duties after Ace Magashule was forced to step aside after being charged for corruption.

The NWC said in a statement that a national executive committee (NEC) meeting on Thursday and Friday would deal with issues of “organisational renewal” and would set a roadmap towards the elective conference in December.

It would be followed by a  NEC lekgotla, which would focus on issues including “defending the gains of the constitution and democratic South Africa” and building a developmental state, focused on service delivery, particularly at local government level.

The roadmap to the national conference will include finalising a programme for provinces that need to hold their elective conferences within the next year. Those whose meetings are overdue are set to complete the process by the end of March.

Gauteng, which had been expecting to hold its provincial conference in July, may have to hold it earlier to prevent a clash with the ANC policy conference, which is itself overdue.

In a letter to Gauteng ANC provincial secretary Jacob Khawe, Mashatile said that although the province had planned to hold its conference at the end of July, it should rather move it to May.

Mashatile said the party had set a March deadline for outstanding provincial and regional conferences, which would need to be completed on schedule because of the policy conferences and the “busy year” ahead.  

The NEC was still considering a programme for those provinces that needed to hold conferences within the next 12 months, Mashatile said.

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