Marianne Merten
African National Congress MP James Ngculu has emerged as a potential challenger to Ebrahim Rasool for the position of Western Cape party chairperson.
Ngculu, a former provincial secretary of the party, has the backing of the ANC Youth League to unseat Rasool at the party’s provincial conference.
The league has a small minority of the 700 conference votes, and any challenge by Ngculu is considered unlikely to succeed. However, sources say the many postponements of the conference since its initial date of mid-June have increased divisions in the ANC in the Western Cape.
While it is widely anticipated most leaders will be endorsed for another two-year term, the post of treasurer is to change hands. Current treasurer Rhoda Joemat is not available for re-election. There is also some doubt whether the current deputy chairperson is available for a top position.
”Unity and continuity” is the informal slogan coined in the run-up to the conference, which this week was rescheduled for October 26.
Traditionally fault lines have arisen between Africanists and those supporting the unwritten rule that the ANC must have a coloured leader to attract the votes from coloured communities, about two-thirds of the Western Cape electorate.
This week Rasool said it was important there was no break-off strategies like non-racialism and African-coloured solidarity in the face of white privilege, represented by the Democratic Alliance. He said the party was unified ”as never before”.
The new treasurer is likely to be Lynn Brown the quiet, backroom organiser who in December lost the race for Cape Town unicity mayor to Pieter Marais. In March she was sacked as deputy speaker of the provincial legislature, but remains an ordinary member there.
There is some uncertainty about whether the former mayor of the now defunct Cape Town city council, NomaIndia Mfeketo, will make herself available for election as deputy provincial chairperson. Mfeketo said she was considering her availability and would make a decision closer to the time of the conference.
Ngculu has also declined to confirm whether he has accepted nomination as a candidate for party chairperson, saying it was ”still under discussion”.
The youth league proposed him after the release of a document on the need to change the colour of the provincial leadership. After discussions within ANC executive structures, it was referred back for ”more work” and has yet to be completed.
The youth league’s Western Cape chairperson, Bongani Mkongi, maintained even if the document was not completed before the conference, the matter would be tabled for full debate.
It is understood there is some dissent over nominations for secretary. One choice is believed to be Khayelitsha branch leader Richard Dyantji, while current secretary and former youth leaguer Mcebisi Skwatsha also enjoys support.
ANC provincial leaders have worked hard to maintain a show of unity after the December local government election defeat, an anonymous vote of no confidence in the leadership at the start of the year and, more recently, accusations that a ”faction” dominates provincial structures.
In August they instituted disciplinary proceedings against Lerumo Kalako, an ANC MP and former provincial sports and recreation MEC for his comments on factionalism on national television. Kalako subsequently withdrew the comments and publicly apologised.