Mbeki lobbying starts for real

The most powerful voting bloc at the ANC’s national conferences, the Eastern Cape, has launched an all-out campaign for President Thabo Mbeki to serve another term as ANC president.

The Mail & Guardian has learnt that the Eastern Cape is lobbying other provinces, urging them to throw their weight behind him in the ruling party’s bitter succession battle. Eastern Cape provincial leaders are understood to have held informal talks with their counterparts in Gauteng, Limpopo and North West province to try to ‘win the provinces over”.

Members of the Eastern Cape provincial executive committee said this week that the initial response from the three provinces has been ‘positive”.

‘Already there’s work being done, particularly in Gauteng, Limpopo and North West. We have also made inroads in the Western Cape, and the balance of forces there seems to be changing in our favour. We did not expect that so soon,” said an Eastern Cape leader.

Justifying the campaign, he added: ‘It’s the duty of the elected leadership to lobby and campaign in other provinces for the success of the congress resolution. I believe comrades are engaging other provinces at an informal level at this stage, trying to establish a common ground.”

Another provincial executive committee member in the Nelson Mandela (Port Elizabeth) region confirmed: ‘The Eastern Cape is hard at work and lobbying other provinces. Once the nomination process opens, the province will approach Mbeki, formally, to stand for re-election.”

Siphato Handi, an Mbeki ally and ANC provincial secretary, denied the Eastern Cape had started lobbying other regions to support another term for Mbeki.

But he hinted that plans were already afoot to urge Mbeki, before the ANC’s national policy conference in June, to stand for re-election.

‘We are not apologetic that we plan to approach Mbeki and encourage him to stand again as ANC president. Although we have not attached any timeframes, the branches expect us to give them a feedback on the matter before the provincial general council in June.”

The Eastern Cape passed a resolution at its elective congress last year urging Mbeki to stand for the party presidency again.

Handi also dispelled rumours this week, that an Eastern Cape delegation would formally ask Mbeki next week to make himself available for the top job.

Mbeki will be in the Eastern Cape from April 26 to 28 to address a Freedom Day rally at Bisho stadium. He will also open the new provincial ANC headquarters in King William’s Town, named after ANC stalwart James Calata, and attend a thanksgiving ceremony at his rural home at Mbewuleni in Idutywa.

Jacob Zuma’s statement this week — that he would offer himself as a candidate, even if he faced fraud charges — and the Eastern Cape’s move to canvass support for Mbeki across provinces indicate that the prospect of a compromise candidate is slowly waning in both camps.

With a clear backing from the North West, the Eastern Cape is painstakingly working on hung provinces such as Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. Led by Mbeki loyalists in both provincial governments and the party, these provinces have yet to announce their candidate.

The Eastern Cape also wants to dilute Zuma’s support in provinces regarded as hotbeds of anti-Mbeki sentiment, such as KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, and to make inroads in the divided Western Cape.

Mbeki loyalist Sbu Ndebele, the KwaZulu-Natal Premier and ANC provincial chairperson, has taken heavy flak from Zuma supporters in the province, and the Eastern Cape is counting on him to dilute Zuma’s support.

Party insiders believe Ndebele is ‘strategically placed”, as premier, to use his influence in this cause. The same is expected in the troublesome Free State, where another Mbeki loyalist, Beatrice Marshoff, is Premier.

Last year, Mbeki met party executive committees in various provinces including the Western Cape, where provincial leaders made him an ex- officio member. Zuma has been battling to launch a full-scale campaign in the Western Cape.

The M&G understands that the Eastern Cape is counting on Western Cape Mbeki loyalists James Ngculu, the ANC provincial chairperson; and Mbulelo Ncedani, the regional secretary of the influential Dullah Omar region. The Zuma camp is said to be banking on Mcebisi Skwatsha, the ANC provincial secretary, who commands massive support in the province.

North West leaders have been battling to canvass support for Mbeki in some parts of the province, notably the Bophirima (Vryburg) and Bojanala (Rustenburg) regions.

Both are touted as Zuma strongholds.

It is understood that Mbeki’s backers, nicknamed the Talibans, are in firm control of the regional executive committees of the two regions, but are losing their grip on the branches.

However, the Talibans are understood to be planning to oust municipal managers and other senior municipal officials belonging to another ANC faction, Mapogo, and deploy officials aligned with them.

The Eastern Cape is confident that its campaign for Mbeki will succeed. ‘We are causing a groundswell nationally. The problems in other parts of the country, like North West and Western Cape, are gradually being solved,” said a provincial executive committee member.