Jacob Khawe is the second provincial leader to speak out against the presence of their seniors at provincial conferences.
The ANC in Gauteng has set strict rules determining how much access national leaders will have to its provincial conference, which kicks off on Thursday.
In an interview with Mail & Guardian, outgoing provincial secretary Jacob Khawe said the province had impressed upon the national officials that its national working committee (NWC) and national executive committee (NEC) members must refrain from attempts to influence the outcomes of the conference.
The warning comes after numerous leaders, including key allies of President Cyril Ramaphosa, have been accused of meddling in provincial and regional conferences in Limpopo, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.
National leaders belonging to factions linked to Ramaphosa, treasurer general Paul Mashatile and Zweli Mkhize are said to have played a pivotal role in conference outcomes in the three provinces as well as in the eThekwini and Ekurhuleni regions.
Khawe is the second provincial leader to speak out against the presence of their seniors at provincial conferences.
ANC KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Sihle Zikalala was the first to raise the alarm during the eThekwini conference, which saw embattled NEC members in talks with corruption-accused Zandile Gumede delegates. Gumede went on to win the conference in absentia.
So aggrieved was Zikalala that in an EWN interview he called on national leaders to attend to the issue, saying that he had made an official complaint against Mkhize.
Khawe told M&G that the province has sought an audience with the party’s top brass this week to find ways to prevent this from happening when Gauteng’s delegates gather to elect their new leaders.
“We were starting to see signs that things may not go well because of the objective and subjective role of the national leadership. We have impressed upon the officials to discuss this with the NWC and the NEC members on what are the dos and don’ts in helping the provinces run their conferences effectively. So, yes, those tendencies, we saw them, and the way to deal with them is to build proper conference structures with a clear mandate on whose we want, at what point.”
Khawe said officials were amenable to the suggestion.
The M&G understands that another meeting to iron out what this might look like took place on Tuesday afternoon.
“You can’t prevent a certain interest but you can prevent behaviour that is unacceptable by setting proper structures and mechanisms to make sure that you run your conference,” said Khawe.
Gauteng is arguably one of the ANC’s key provinces and also the country’s economic hub. The ANC is on the verge of losing power there, having lost control of the three metros in the local government elections.
It is also the home province of Mashatile, with an expectation from some that it will endorse his bid to become the ANC’s next deputy president.
Khawe, who is facing allegations of domestic abuse, is running on his own for re-election as provincial secretary.
He is the chief provincial administrator but ANC insiders believe he will be dethroned by Thulani Kunene or TK Ncinza.
Khawe ran with Lebohang Maile in 2018, and now believes that he will run a principled race unbeholden to factions and leaders.
“I took a political stance that at times we lose objectivity because we owe allegiance to friends or groups or to factions, and that ANC members and leaders, gradually, we [compromise on] quality because we got to elect them on the basis that the particular slate has identified them, and that those who are not identified by them are not capable enough to lead the organisation. It is a bit of a risky decision, but it stands tall within the context of renewing the organisation that one should not be good to lead because they belong to a particular slate,” he said.
With the country already casting its eyes on the 2024 general elections, Khawe believes this conference will be crucial to the ANC’s chances.
“The first thing that is needed is to have a conference that spends more time discussing the state of affairs, the challenges of unemployment, the performance of the state, local government, the provincial government, the economic challenges and what interventions should be done to ease the burden to the poor and the working class.
“So firstly, it’s a conference that anybody who looks at … should take comfort in that here is a delegation that is more focused on dealing with challenges that are confronting our people, or the developmental agenda of taking our province to a higher level in terms of foreign investment, export and import. That is the first sign that will give me comfort that 2024 is not necessarily a coming disaster.”
How the ANC in the province manages its differences in the media glare during the conference will also determine its chances in 2024, according to Khawe.
He argues that the management of contestation as well as the conduct of party leaders in this conference — which has been defined in some regions by the use of money to buy delegates — will give a sense that “we really will go below 50% come 2024”.
The ANC has an arduous task of trying to maintain its narrow majority over the opposition to continue controlling the state.
Pundits have predicted that the governing party will dip below 50% in the Gauteng province, giving rise to a coalition government.
Maile and Panyaza Lesufi, who are contesting for provincial chair, have sought to convince ANC branches and the public that they are the best candidates to regain the confidence of voters.
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