This weekend, ANC branches in Gauteng will start the crunch debate on who their new leader will be. By Monday, they should have a clear idea, Wally Mbhele reports
WITH the outgoing Gauteng premier Tokyo Sexwale licking his political wounds inflicted on the eve of his resignation from the highest provincial office, two candidates are clearly the hot favourites to fill his shoes.
Previously considered dark horses for the premiership race, Paul Mashatile, MEC for Public Transport and Roads, and advocate Mathole Motshekga, chair of the standing committee on development planning and local government, are tipped to take over the provincial leadership.
Both names emerged as favourites this week, on the eve of a crucial African National Congress provincial general council meeting – which will decide on Sunday who will be nominated for the position of premier.
The council meeting, to be attended by the leadership of all Gauteng ANC branches, comes in the wake of a flurry of branch meetings this week in which a process of electing a new incumbent was designed.
And on Wednesday, the provincial working committee also met to finalise a list of candidates for the premiership to be presented to the branches for approval.
Sources close to the provincial executive committee this week told the Mail & Guardian that although MEC for Economic Affairs and Finance Jabu Moleketi had earlier been tipped to take over the premier’s job, he has no strong support among branches.
The same goes for MEC for Health, Amos Masondo, who is favoured more by other MECs than ANC grassroots structures.
That, according to sources, leaves the race solely between Mashatile and Motshekga. Both men were singled out as “the two most important pillars of strength behind Sexwale’s success during his reign as a premier and chairman of the ANC”.
Mashatile is currently the provincial ANC general secretary while Motshekga has been Sexwale’s deputy in the ANC since1991.
It is understood that the ANC national office is not yet interfering in the process of finding a new provincial leader although “they would like to see Motshekga taking over from Tokyo”, sources at Shell House said.
This new approach of leaving the option to decide solely to the branches is, according to sources, drawn from the ANC leadership’s recent harsh lessons drawn from the Free State and Northern Province’s provincial leadership election twists.
When the national ANC office tried to influence the decisions on who should be elected as provincial leaders in those two provinces, branches decided to go against them and elected leaders of their choice.
ANC members who tipped Motshekga for the premiership said his experience as “Tokyo’s assistant” throughout Sexwale’s tenure as ANC chair stood him in a good stead to take over.
When Motshekga was approached to take a senior position in the provincial government – as MEC for local government in 1994 – he declined the offer and said he preferred to continue working with ANC structures.
He was then offered the position of speaker in the provincial parliament but again declined, and accepted the “lesser important” offer of heading the standing committee on local government.
The major question which must be settled on Sunday, according to sources, is whether branches will be nominating the provincial ANC chair or premier.
In the past, both positions were held by Sexwale. He was this week described as being “very bitter” about the manner in which his resignation was greeted by his comrades in the ANC.
It is understood branches will demand that he also steps down as ANC chairman.
“The process of discussing names has not officially begun within the ANC. The process must first be defined and the general council must lead that process,” said an executive committee member.
Asked to comment on speculation surrounding his likely election to the top post, Motshekga said: “I have been long in the ANC. My experience is that the ANC branch leadership is the body that decides on the question of leadership. They are so matured and developed that they know who will be the right person at the right time.”
He said he was leaving the matter in the hands of ANC branches to decide which choice to make when the time was ripe.
However, he made clear his intentions of accepting the position if it was offered to him.
“When that time comes I’ll be available to stand if they choose me because I have placed all my life to the service of the organisation. I am confident they know what is right for them,” he added.
Asked about his previous reluctance to take up a senior position in the government, Motshekga said “it was important when we set up our first Cabinet that it should be broad-based.
“Positions for individuals were not important. That is why I was not available for a senior position. I had to remain in the organisation.”
However, he said, times and the situation have changed. “The position of the provincial ANC chairperson becomes open when the current chairman resigns. People should be free to choose,” he said.
Asked if Motshekga would be the next Gauteng premier, an ANC premier said: “I don’t think so. It’s going to be played differently. Unlike in the Free State and Northern Province, there it is going to be played through the branches and I like it, it’s democratic. It will be Paul [Mashatile].”
As secretary general of the ANC, Mashatile commands respect and has considerable influence among many ANC branches.
Previously the ANC’s education officer, he shocked critics when he defeated ANC MP Barbara Hogan for the position of ANC provincial secretary general in 1993 before becoming the leader of the house after 1994 elections.
He became the MEC for transport when the National Party left the Government of National Unity last year.