Mondli waka Makhanya and Chris Louw
ALLAN BOESAK is set to relinquish his position as ANC leader in the Western Cape, and will probably be replaced by a cabinet member.
A little-known township activist is expected to be elected deputy leader of the province.
Elections will take place at the ANC’s Western Cape regional congress, scheduled for September 9 to 11, and indications are that a new leader will be chosen to take on the NP’s Hernus Kriel after the ANC’s disappointing performance in the April elections.
The race is wide open. Cape Flats firebrand Tony Yengeni is actively trying to regain the position he lost to Boesak last year, while former trade unionist and now MP Salie Manie is mentioned in ANC circles as another possibility for the leadership position.
Strong resistance to Manie is expected from the African townships, who will support a cabinet minister — names mooted include those of Pallo Jordan, Dullah Omar, Trevor Manuel and Cheryl Carolus — with an African candidate as deputy leader. The townships form a strong lobby with the South African Communist Party and the ANC Youth League.
The African township caucus met last week and have put forward little-known former Khayelitsha chairman Zola Nqose as a candidate, and he is expected to be voted in as deputy chairman. Efforts to establish a “coloured caucus” were shot down by activists as racist and did not materialise.
Nqose would carry out the day-to-day operations, while the leader will be largely a figurehead. Township activists recognise that someone with a higher public profile will be needed to lead the ANC into the local elections next year.
Sources indicate neither Omar nor Carolus will make themselves available for the leadership position. But Yengeni is said to be going all out to regain his leadership position after being ousted by Boesak before the April poll.
Boesak is likely to stand back and not make himself available as leader. Colleagues in the ANC are trying to organise him a diplomatic posting as a sweetener. It seems likely he will accept such an offer.
Boesak is widely held responsible for the ANC’s dismal performance in the elections, and there are complaints that he has been unable to bridge the gap between Africans and coloureds in the province.
Manie, a former trade unionist, said he would only make himself available if “the right team” was elected. “I am not prepared to be part of a dogfight,” he said.
Manie is seen as acceptable to both African and coloured communities because of his track-record in the reconstruction and development programme and his labour background.
A TV technician by trade, he was a member of the South African Municipal Workers Union for 10 years. He served on Cosatu’s economic and development task force and was vice-chairman of the local government negotiating forum.
The Western Cape regional leadership is expected to be influential because of the location of parliament in Cape Town, and it is expected to develop a clear identity acting independently from the parliamentary caucus.
There is still a debate on whether MPs should be elected in regional leadership positions at all.