Who’s in charge of the ANC?

Less than a month after its policy conference, the ANC is battling the ‘two centres of power” as the party fights with its government structures about who is in charge.

In the past two weeks the party has overruled two municipalities and the North West provincial government over deployments. In the Eastern Cape, the party told the Nelson Mandela Bay metro mayor Nondumiso Maphazi to put her reshuffling on ice.

In the Vaal in Gauteng, the ANC reversed a directive mayor Dikeledi Tsotesi had made and reinstated three members of her mayoral committee whom she had fired. The party actually reshuffled the provincial Cabinet, effectively overriding the premier in North West, who is the only person who has the constitutional powers to do so.

The tensions over who is in control continue to plague the ANC, which said at the policy conference that it did not want to fall into the trap of micromanaging its members in the government.

ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe said ANC members deployed in the government should have the space to operate as long as they acted within ANC policy.

Emfuleni

Tsotetsi removed three members of her team, Greta Hlongwane, Mabandle Ronyuza and Teboho Moepadira. A few months ago, the mayor had contested the position of treasurer against Hlongwane, but lost. Hlongwane is therefore Tsotetsi’s senior in the ANC.

Hlongwane is also the wife of Sedibeng district mayor Mlungisi Hlongwane. The ANC got wind of Tsotetsi’s actions before she could announce replacements for the three members and called a special meeting to which she was summoned and told that the three had been reinstated. The ANC was upset that she had not consulted it before acting. Tsotetsi is believed to have further upset the party by calling the police. She claimed she was intimidated after the regional chairperson Sy Mofokeng, and another individual visited her at her home.

Nelson Mandela

In Port Elizabeth, the ANC provincial executive committee has told Maphazi to postpone her proposed reshuffle until she develops a convincing case.

Eastern Cape provincial secretary Siphato Handi said Maphazi had made a submission to the regional and provincial ANC outlining what she wanted to do, but her submission was not extensive enough to assess.

‘As a result we said we will meet with her on Monday so that she can elaborate and give us clear reasons. It is not that we disagree with her or want to hold her hostage. We can’t hold our own municipality to ransom. We are the ones who want progress in those communities. It is not true that we rejected her submission,” Handi said. Meanwhile, Maphazi has put the reshuffle on hold until she receives a directive from her party.

North West

In North West the ANC has decided to terminate the services of agriculture provincial minister Elliot Mayisela. The party has ordered the premier, Edna Molewa, to implement its decision. Mayisela has tried to keep his job by interdicting the ANC.

The Mail & Guardian reported last year that the province was split into two factions, the Taliban and Mapogo, who were fighting for control. Mayisela and Molewa belong to the Mapogo grouping.

Mayisela, who is a confidant of Molewa, first landed in hot water with the North West branch of the ANC in June last year when he revealed in a sworn affidavit that ‘three factions contend for political power within the North West ANC”. Mayisela’s statement formed part of the government’s case in its dispute with dismissed agriculture director general Emily Mogajane. Mayisela said Mogajane’s actions were symptomatic of the infighting.

ANC sources said the affidavit was the last straw. Mayisela was ordered to appear at an internal ANC committee to explain himself, but he told the party to speak to him through his lawyers.

‘You do not tell the ANC, which deployed you to your current position, that you will only talk to it through lawyers,” said an ANC source, who had close dealings with the case. ‘His attitude did not go down well.”

Mayisela’s handling of the Mogajane case had irked influential members of the ANC in the province when he accused Mogajane of trying to destabilise the party. Some members were unhappy about the way he handled a corruption investigation in his department and believed he was shielding people from prosecution. Mayisela’s dismissal is a big blow to Molewa, but party members say that she has been reluctant to get involved because she fears a backlash from her own party.