The African National Congress’s provincial executive council (PEC) in the Eastern Cape has revoked all the powers and functions of the party’s ”disruptive” Amathole region — the second largest in the province — a month before the provincial African National Congress’s elective conference.
The move is likely to galvanise a power struggle between senior party leaders in the province that will have far-reaching repercussions for the ANC’s national succession battle. The Eastern Cape is the ANC’s historical power base and is seen as a baroÂÂmeter for trends at national level.
This year the race for provincial chair has been thrown wide open — it will become vacant when Makenkhesi Stofile, chairperson of the provincial ANC, and his deputy, Enoch Godongwana, step down at the end of September.
The dispute in the Amathole region is likely to have a far-reaching impact on who emerges as the new leader in the province.
The Mail & Guardian understands that the main contenders for the position are former education provincial minister Stone Sizani, who is also chairperson of the Nelson Mandela region, and Mcebisi Jonas, former CEO of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation and member of the PEC.
The M&G has a copy of a letter written by Stofile on August 14 to Mluleki George, regional secretary of the Amathole region, informing him of the PEC’s decision.
”The PEC agreed that the Amathole Region (or some of its members) have been disruptive to the ANC work in this region for some time now,” the letter reads. ”The PEC also noted that all meetings with the [Amathole] regional executive council did not solve the problems, instead we have experienced consistent obstruction by some people who are [set] on dividing members in this region and province. The PEC, however, felt that it would be too drastic and too short a time available to dissolve the [regional executive council] … the PEC therefore decided to revoke all powers and functions of the Amathole region.”
George said this week that he had received the letter from Stofile and that the regional executive council would discuss the matter in a meeting this week.
”If you lead an organisation that has been divided for 10 years you can’t start blaming others and exclude yourself,” he said in a thinly veiled attack on Stofile.
Tensions between Stofile and George stretch back many years. The last provincial conference in 2001 was declared null and void by the ANC’s national executive committee because of technical irregularities. Stofile had defeated George by fewer than 200 votes. The conference was reconvened and Stofile won 75% of the vote.
The Amathole region has 17 000 ANC members, second to the OR Tambo region — the biggest in the province and the country — with 25 000 members, according to the audited figures for the national general council last July.
Political control of these regions is crucial for power broking ahead of the provincial conference next month and, in turn, for the ANC’s decisive national conference at the end of next year.
Traditionally the Eastern Cape holds the trump card at the national conference with the greatest number of voting delegates. At the 2002 conference in Stellenbosch the province had 655 voting deleÂÂgates compared with the second largest delegation, KwaZulu-Natal, with 393 delegates.
Senior ANC provincial members who spoke to the M&G this week said Jonas has the support of the OR Tambo and Chris Hani regions. Chris Hani is the third-largest voting region in the province, with 8 000 members.
Sizani commands the majority of support in Amathole, but the region is divided, with some branches throwing their weight behind Jonas.
The assumption of authority of the Amathole region by the PEC means that the region will be unable to constitute new branches ahead of the provincial conference — an old trick used to strengthen the voting power and manipulate the vote and which was reportedly being employed in the region.
Sizani’s backers said that he has a ”unifying charisma” that will unite the deeply divided provincial ANC. Some ANC members said Sizani would have the upper hand because he is Jonas’s political senior.
One leader said Jonas is in a better position than Sizani to communicate and interpret the ”current contradictions contained in the ANC economic policies”.
Premier Nosimo Balindlela has been named as an outside contender with reports claiming that her name was raised in an SMS campaign to lobby support for her.
Service delivery slows as infighting heats up
Political infighting over mayoral candidates in three of the Eastern Cape’s biggest municipalities has paralysed service delivery. It has also entrenched factionalism between two African National Congress camps six months after the local government election and a month before the ruling party’s seminal provincial elective conference.
The Mnquma, Nyandeni and Mbhashe local municipalities have been brought to a standstill as two mayoral candidates irregularly elected by the municipal councillors have refused to step down for the provincial ANC’s mayoral choices.
The Mail & Guardian has learned that the mayor of Mnquma, Mabona Duna, and the mayor of Mbhashe, Fezeka Mvana, have been suspended from the ANC by the party’s provincial executive committee (PEC) and have been told to step down as mayors. The Nyandeni mayor, Phumelele Ndamase, resigned reportedly under pressure.
They were elected by councillors after the March 2 local government election, ignoring provincial party nominees.
The M&G is in possession of a ”top-secret” report prepared by the provincial department of local government in May that reveals the effect the political squabbling has had on service delivery in Mnquma Municipality.
It says that collection of revenue in the municipality has come to a standstill and that it has no credit control and debt collection policies.
Mnquma Local Municipality incorporates Butterworth, Kentani and Nqamakwe and has total budget of about R130-million, the fifth largest of 38 local municipalities in the Eastern Cape.
According to the report, Mnquma owes the South African Revenue Services R10-million and the national Department of Water Affairs and Forestry R18-million.
Mnquma municipality has undertaken to provide appropriate housing to about 300 000 of its population. Its director of strategic planning and development, Sipho Mengezeleli, who was fired this week for the second time this year, told M&G that not a single housing project had been completed by the municipality. — Mbuyisi Mgibisa