Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa is likely to be re-elected provincial African National Congress chairperson at the Gauteng congress next week, while former Northern Cape chairperson John Block is expected to return to topple the acting chairperson, Premier Dipuo Peters, this weekend.
The re-election of Shilowa will be an endorsement of his leadership in the province, which is now free from previous divisions — while Block returns under dubious circumstances.
Block resigned from all his positions in the government and the ANC last year after he admitted to abusing taxpayers’ money to finance an expensive jazz habit.
Last week Peters surprised everyone when she announced that Block had been cleared in an investigation by Auditor General Shauket Fakie — who had never investigated him in the first place.
What Fakie’s office had probed was the government garage during Block’s tenure as provincial transport minister. Immediately after Peters’s announcement, Fakie told the media that he had not investigated individuals but procedures, specifically the outsourcing of the government garage tender to a private company.
The auditor general’s report was not ready for public consumption when Peters publicised it. It had not been signed by Fakie and should have been tabled in the provincial legislature before being released to the public.
However, Peters’s move seems to have paved the way for Block to compete for positions at the ANC congress. He is understood to have a strong, influential support base that will ensure his victory over Peters, who has also been nominated for the chair. His biggest supporter is said to be provincial secretary Neville Mompati, who has been nominated as deputy chairperson.
Sources say Block’s victory would create the old problem of two centres of power — one located within the government and another in the ANC. They said since being appointed premier by President Thabo Mbeki, Peters had not stamped her authority on the province and the election of someone new as chairperson would further weaken her position.
In Gauteng, Shilowa and his provincial secretary, David Makhura, are regarded as the pillars of provincial unity and safe bets to keep their posts. Many branches are pushing for the top five provincial officials to be returned unopposed. These include deputy chairperson Angie Motshekga, deputy secretary Mandla Nkomfe and treasurer Lindiwe Maseko.
Motshekga is still smarting from allegations of impropriety in her dealings with the Sediba Sa Basadi Trust, which she recommended should be given an empowerment stake by AllPay, which had secured a contract from her previous department, social services. She apologised to the Gauteng legislature for a breach of the legislature code of conduct this week. It is believed that housing provincial minister Nomvula Mokonyane could challenge Motshekga for the deputy position.
Meanwhile, the Western Cape ANC provincial conference has been postponed to March because its regions are in disarray. None of the six Western Cape regions has held its own preparatory conferences. In five regions, not enough branches have been able to hold annual general meetings and verify membership. Only after this has been done can branches send delegates to a provincial conference, where priorities for the next three years are determined and provincial leadership is elected.
Also, it appears that no formal discussion documents have been prepared. This means not even nominations for a new provincial executive have been fully canvassed.