MONDAY, 8.00AM
MATHOLE MOTSHEKGA, the outsider the African National Congress worked so hard to keep out of the Gauteng leadership, won the provincial chairmanship by a landslide on Sunday. In the final round of voting for the chairmanship, he beat favoured candidate Frank Chikane by 343 votes to 179.
The vote ends a three-month power struggle in the ANC over a successor to outgoing provincial chairman and Premier Tokyo Sexwale. Motshekga refused to stand down, despite repeated attempts to persuade him, when he deadlocked against the ANC’s first “favoured” candidate, Amos Masondo.
Motshekga’s support was apparent right from the start of the meeting, when proceedings were interrupted by his supporters, who sang songs in praise of him for 30 minutes. Six of the rival candidates then stepped down, throwing their support behind former church leader Frank Chikane, causing an uproar that took 10 minutes to end.
Mothshekga used his victory speech to call for reconciliation, saying that he had great respect for his opponents, and regretting that the election process may have made “mistakes seen to favour one candidate above another”. His opponents, including Chikane, Masondo, and the SA Communist Party, were quick to express support for him.
Gauteng Premier Sexwale told delegates that Motshekga’s victory made him the automatic candidate for premier when he retires at the end of the year. But ANC national spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said the party congress in December will make a general decision on whether provincial chairmanships will be linked to premierships.
Mothshekga, 48, holds a masters degree in law from Harvard and a doctorate from Unisa. He lectured in law for ten years at Unisa before going into active politics, and is a former chairman of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers.
MONDAY, 5.30PM
Motshekga will assume the position of premier when Tokyo Sexwale leaves the post in January, the ANC said on Monday after confusion arose on the issue. ANC provincial secretary Paul Mashatile, who is MEC for public transport and roads, said: “There has never been any suggestion that the national conference of the ANC will decide on whether Motshekga will be Gauteng’s premier or not. We have always understood it to be within our competence to elect a premier for the province. This was done unreservedly on Sunday.”