TUESDAY, 2.00PM
AFRICAN National Congress Women’s League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is set to enter the race for the party’s deputy presidency as the women’s league demands two positions among the ANC’s top six. The Sowetan on Tuesday quoted ANCWL sources as saying that since Deputy Presidnet Thabo Mbeki’s position for the party’s presidency is unassailable, the league is therefore demanding the nmber two spot. As president, Madikizela-Mandela is the league’s automatic candidate for the deputy presidency, although there are divisions in the organsation over her nomination.
The truth commission’s imminent reopening of investigations into Madikizela-Mandela’s invlovement in the kidnapping and murder of teen activist Stompie Seipei, and revelations by convicted Stompie-killer Jerry Richardson and former Winnie confidante Xoliswa Falati may yet damage her chances of nomination.
TUESDAY, 4.00PM
THE ANCWL on Tuesday dismissed speculation that it will nominate Madikizela-Mandela for the ANC’s deputy presidency at the party’s 50th national conference in December.
ANCWL deputy president Thandi Modise said: “We need to be in the leadership in the ANC, especially on the executive, but we do not have an official ANCWL nomination list for the ANC conference, neither do we have our own members as nominees.”
The ANCWL also denied lobbying for two of the six top posts in the ANC. The league said there is a lobby of women in the party making that demand, but it is not a league demand. There have been suggestions that the Sowetan report was the result of a campaign by Madikizela-Mandela to elevate herself.
Meanwhile, Katiza Cebekhulu, Madikizela-Mandela’s co-accused in the Stompie kidnap trial, who was apparently abducted by ANC operatives and taken to Zambia to prevent him from testifying in the trial, has gone missing again. Cebekhulu was last month reported to be in London and ready to speak to investigators and the truth commission. However, commission investigations chief Dumisa Ntsebeza returned from London empty-handed at the weekend. “I never got to see Cebekhulu. It is a lost cause trying to find him,” Ntsebeza said.