The booing of Limpopo Premier Sello Moloto at the funeral of former ambassador to Indonesia Norman Mashabane was the result of a well-orchestrated plan by supporters of African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Jacob Zuma to humiliate Moloto, it has emerged.
Moloto, who is said to be a close ally of President Thabo Mbeki, is seen by many Zuma supporters in the province as an obstacle to the province’s campaign to support Zuma as the next president of the ANC.
Limpopo is a greatly contested province, where supporters of both Zuma and Mbeki claim they enjoy majority support.
Zuma supporters believe the majority of the province supports them, with the exception of the Capricorn (Polokwane) region. Mbeki supporters claim that, with the exception of the Sekhukhune region, they have the province in the bag.
Reliable sources within the ANC told the Mail & Guardian this week that the plan to embarrass Moloto in public was discussed at a meeting attended by senior ANC Youth League members last Friday, the day before Mashabane’s funeral. The names of the ANCYL members who attended the meeting, which lasted until 3am on Saturday, are known to the M&G.
Moloto said this week that he was informed about the plan by some people within the ANCYL a day before the funeral. ‘I knew that they were going to do this and I was ready for it. I think this is part of the [ANC] conference shivers. These are people who think they can get their way by undermining me. It’s a small group, which uses undemocratic means. I am not shaken because I know people in the province are behind me.â€
According to media reports Moloto, who is also the provincial chairperson of the ANC in the province, was booed by a group of ANCYL leaders as he took to the podium to speak at Mashabane’s funeral.
ANCYL provincial secretary Julius Malema, former Limpopo premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi, former National Intelligence Agency director general Billy Masetlha and ANC Limpopo secretary Cassel Mathale reportedly tried, in vain, to calm the group.
The situation returned to normal only after Zuma had intervened, saying the youths’ behaviour could not be allowed, even if they held a particular view of Moloto.
Malema rejected claims that the plan to disrupt proceedings at Mashabane’s funeral was discussed by the ANCYL.
‘That’s not true. There has never been a meeting of the youth league since Mashabane passed away. We were shocked by what happened,†Malema said.
The ANC this week issued a statement condemning what it described as ‘despicable conduct†by a group of individuals at the funeral.
‘Such behaviour has no place in any gathering of the movement, much less the funeral of a fallen cadre of our movement. It is disrespectful and shameful. We deplore the behaviour of these unruly elements. There is no room for such people in the ANC.â€
ANC spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso this week said the party was looking into the matter and that disciplinary action would be taken against any of its members identified as participants in such behaviour.
Tensions between Moloto and the ANCYL have been ongoing for months now, with the Youth League calling for his resignation as ANC chairperson.
Earlier this year Moloto lashed out at Zuma for elevating his personal problems as matters for the ANC to deal with. He was referring to Zuma’s public pronouncements that the state investigations against him were driven by a conspiracy by some senior members of the ANC who did not want him to succeed Mbeki as the country’s next president.
With less than two months left before the ANC’s elective conference in Polokwane, supporters of Mbeki and Zuma are desperately lobbying for victory.
Senior ANC members in the province who support Zuma include Ramathlodi, Mathale, provincial minister of public works and provincial chairperson of the ANC Women’s League Rosina Semenya, sports and culture provincial minister Joyce Mashamba and her husband, George Mashamba, economic development provincial minister Collins Chabane and the late Mashabane’s wife, Maite Nkoana Mashabane, who is the provincial minister for local government and housing.
Mbeki’s supporters include Moloto, provincial minister of roads and public transport Justice Pitso, and health and social development provincial minister Seaparo Sekoati.
A province divided
The ANC in the Western Cape will go to the national congress in Polokwane with half its delegates likely to vote for Thabo Mbeki and the other half for Jacob Zuma.
Last Sunday the Dullah Omar region (Cape Town) held the sixth and last ANC regional conference. It is the biggest of the six regions in the province. One thing is clear: the ANC in this province is a deeply divided organisation despite the efforts of even the president to unite the party.
With a very narrow margin of votes the top five positions for Cape Town were all taken by candidates supportive of Premier Ebrahim Rasool, who is pro-Mbeki, while the supporters of ANC provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha, who supports Zuma as the next ANC leader, lost in a bruising battle, with only eight votes from 191 delegates.
ANC chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota infuriated some delegates by calling for a ban on the ‘100% Zulu†T-shirts. Lekota said these were divisive and should be banned from meetings.
Although none of the six regions has taken any resolution on which candidate it will support as president, three regions — Cape Town, the Karoo and the Boland — support Mbeki and the Overberg, Southern Cape and West Coast support Zuma.
When ANC provincial leader James Ngculu, recently ‘switched†sides and started aligning himself with Rasool, the balance of power in the province seems to have tipped towards Rasool and, therefore Mbeki.
The Mail & Guardian was told that Mbeki instructed Ngculu to work with Rasool — something Ngculu has denied.
‘Mbeki never said ‘James, you work with Rasool’. The president never requested us to unite. As the leader of the ANC in the province, creating unity here is my job. Whether Mbeki or Zuma is the next ANC leader, I will serve the organisation,†Ngculu said this week.
A senior member of the ANC national executive committee told the M&G that attempts to unite the premier with the party leadership in the province had been ongoing for more than a year. He also confirmed the president’s role in bringing the premier and the ANC leadership together.
‘Mbeki told the provincial executive committee to get its act together and start working together.
‘The president said the ANC in the province is a laughing stock and none of the differences the leadership have with each other is based on political differences, but mainly on personality clashes,†he said. — Pearlie Joubert