The two most senior African National Congress officials in the Free State have been shunned by their supporters on the eve of the party’s preparations to elect new provincial leadership.
ANC Premier Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri and the provincial chair, Zingile Dingale, appear to be facing the chop. None of the 10 Free State ANC regional branches has nominated either as chair at the provincial conference later this month.
Five or six people have so far been nominated as chair. Among them are former premier Patrick “Terror” Lekota’s ex-rival, Ace Magashule; current provincial ANC representative Gregory Nthatisi; former MEC for finance Tate Makgoe; and another Lekota supporter, Papi Kganare.
Matsepe-Casaburri and Dingale rose to positions of power last year in the wake of a decision by the national leadership to dissolve the provincial executive committee and bring in new leaders to stabilise the running of the province.
The controversial decision followed months of in-fighting between Lekota and his opponents in the ANC provincial executive committee.
Ironically, both Matsepe-Casaburri and Dingale are now being used as “cannon fodder” by warring factions which are seeking to gain political supremacy in the province.
The party’s national leadership favoured Matsepe-Casaburri, whom they unilaterally appointed as premier, for the position of chair last year – they prefer every premier to be provincial chair.
But Dingale caused an upset when he was voted chair by branches which were angry about Lekota’s sacking.
Various and conflicting reasons have been cited for their loss of popularity, but both leaders’ perceived lack of decisiveness seems to be the major cause of their pending downfall.
“Ivy came here and we supported her. She failed to make it. There was a feeling that we should vote for her in order to combine the positions of chair and the premiership. Although we did not support that notion at the time, we decided to support her in order to avoid further conflict,” said a regional chair who previously supported her.
He criticised Matsepe-Casaburri for being indecisive. “She is seen as a person who is neutral. In politics there is no neutrality, a leader has to be firm and decisive.
“She did not want to be associated with any group. Comrades say she’s completely out of touch with ANC politics. That’s been proved many times. She’s not a good politician, only a good administrator.”
About Dingale, the official said: “He has been a good comrade. The side that supported him thought he’ll toe their line even if they’re wrong. He did not dance to their music, hence he became unpopular with the group that put him into power.”
Another regional leader said Dingale proved to be a weak leader: “He did little when it most mattered. He’s not nominated because he failed to pursue a certain agenda.”
He denied Dingale was sidelined because of the reconciliatory stance he adopted to bring unity between the ANC factions.
“He would not have gone wrong if he fought for reconciliation. In fact, the provincial executive committee would have been far better had it gone for that option.”
An example, he said, was Dingale’s failure to solve the “Bethlehem crisis”, when the ANC national office recommended the firing of the town’s mayor, Khabane Khabane.
Khabane was facing a string of allegations, including fraud, rape and working for the apartheid machinery.
It is believed Dingale was unable to act against him because he did not get support from his provincial executive committee. Khabane is still mayor.
“Dingale has been sidelined. He has not been running the ANC in the Free State effectively, and other people are running it on his behalf,” said a senior ANC Free State leader.