The ruling African National Congress (ANC) holds its first national conference in five years at Stellenbosch University next week — with elections likely to indicate whether the left or “right-wing” of the movement holds sway.
While indications are that the top five elected positions will remain in their present hands, all eyes will be on how mavericks Winnie Madikizela-Mandela — who came fifth in the national executive committee rankings in the 1994 conference — and former Western Cape leader Alan Boesak will do, in addition to who appears to have fallen out of favour with the right-wing lobby led by President Thabo Mbeki.
The conference starts with a political report by President Thabo Mbeki on Monday morning (December 16), although registration will take place this Sunday.
While it is not clear at this stage whether Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will attend the conference, it has been confirmed that his ruling Zanu-PF have been invited as observers.
Various parastatals and private sector companies will also have stands at the conference and will be given the opportunity to lobby members of the governing party. Party representative Donovon Cloete said today a list of these companies would not be provided ahead of the conference for security reasons.
The Johannesburg-based Sowetan has reported that Madikizela-Mandela, who is head of the ANC Women’s League and who has fallen largely out of favour with the parliamentary caucus of the party, heads the list of ANC nominees for the national executive committee (NEC).
Boesak, who was released from prison on parole in mid 2001 after serving about a year of his three-year imprisonment for fraud and theft, has also been nominated by several provinces, according to ANC sources.
A clear idea of the nominations will emerge next Wednesday when they are lodged in the evening. Results of elections will be announced on Friday next week, the last day of the conference.
The Eastern Cape, which has the largest voting block of any province at the conference of 3 400 official delegates and about 1 400 observers, has re-nominated the top six members of the NEC including ANC president (and national president) Thabo Mbeki, deputy president Jacob Zuma, national chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota, general secretary Kgalema Motlanthe, deputy secretary general Thenjiwe Mtintso and treasurer Mendi Msimang.
Recently-axed Eastern Cape MEC Ncumisa Kondlo and Stone Sizani, who recently resigned as an Eastern Cape MEC, have been short listed for NEC posts together with Eastern Cape Premier Makhenkesi Stofile.
It is widely understood that the former MECs have lost the confidence of the national leadership and are viewed as “ultra-left” — people who oppose Mbeki’s conservative fiscal and financial policies. – I-Net Bridge