Gaye Davis at the ANC conference
BOTH Winnie Mandela and Peter Mokaba’s names were absent from the controversial list of handpicked national executive committee (NEC) nominees drawn up at ANC president Nelson Mandela’s behest but resoundingly rejected by delegates.
Confronted by a potential grassroots revolt by delegates who believed the list interfered with their democratic right to nominate and vote for whom they choose, the list was withdrawn on the eve of elections for the ANC’s highest decision-making body.
ANC leaders insisted afterwards that the NEC largely reflected the racial, regional, ethnic and gender balance Mandela had hoped to achieve when he asked a committee chaired by outgoing ANC deputy president Walter Sisulu to compile the list, based on regional nominations.
But the list was in trouble from the start. Dissenting delegates dubbed it the “Indian option”. It is understood Mandela got the idea on a visit to India, where the Congress Party uses the system. Sources said Mandela opted for it because he was alarmed at the factionalism emerging in the run-up to the conference as African populists embarked on intense, undercover lobbying.
Despite warnings from NEC members that it would meet strong resistance, he insisted on going ahead, sources said.
The six-member committee charged with drawing it up included South African Communist Party general secretary Charles Nqakula and Cosatu general secretary Sam Shilowa. Sources said once branches learnt of the list, some weeks ahead of the conference, SACP and Cosatu head offices were inundated with calls of protest.
“Apart from being undemocratic, the list itself was flawed and failed to do what it was intended to do,” a delegate said. “It reflected a degree of provincial nepotism in the regions, for example. Also, names like Winnie Mandela and Mokaba’s did not appear — and ANC branches wanted to know why people they’d nominated were not on it.”
At a post-NEC elections press conference, Mandela said he felt “no disappointment at all” at the rejection of his initiative, saying regional executive committees accepted the proposal because he’d been able to brief them. It was decided not to put the list before conference because branches had not been properly briefed.
In the event, delegates elected 60 additional members to the NEC from a list of 235 candidates. Mokaba and Winnie Mandela scored the third and fifth-highest number of votes respectively while former Transkei ruler Bantu Holomisa barrelled in first with 1 915 votes — a signal that populism pays off. Another militant, Tony Yengeni, came in with 912 votes. Together, they comprise a sort of shadow cabinet.
Those who stood but were not re-elected included Rocky Malebane-Metsing, who came 72nd, Andrew Mlangeni (62), Billy Nair (75) and Sister Bernard Ncube (70).
The outcome was described as a blow to the left: while Blade Nzimande and Essop Pahad made it, Pravin Gordhan and Philip Dexter did not. Cosatu leader Sam Shilowa and his deputy John Gomomo both made it; unionists Chris Dlamini and Marcel Golding did not. Newcomers – ANC members in government make up the overwhelming majority – are as follows:
Labour minister Tito Mboweni (1640), MP Carl Niehaus (1488), Land minister Derek Hanekom (1280), Education minister Sibusiso Bengu (1233), MP Blade Nzimande (1227), Speaker Frene Ginwala (1224), John Gomomo (1211) MP Adelaide Tambo (1198), deputy minister Sankie Nkondo (1184), Sanco’s Thozamile Botha (1085), Limpho Hani (1079), S’bu Ndebele (1022), Public Enterprise minister Stella Sigcau (1011), deputy finance minister Alec Erwin (960), Sam Shilowa (951), Youth League president Lulu Johnson (945), Sanco’s Moses Mayekiso (944) MP Baleka Kgositsile (936), Women’s League’s Thandi Modise (932), MP Tony Yengeni (912), MP Max Sisulu (911), MP Essop Pahad (865), Mavivi Manzini (860), MEC Smuts Ngonyama (830), MP Thenjiwe Mthintso (753) and MP Linda Mti (747).
With Cheryl Carolus as deputy secretary general, the number of women on the NEC now stands at 14.