The African National Congress’s (ANC) Polokwane conference may deal with nominations for the party’s presidency late on Monday, according to a senior party official.
”We believe the process will actually unfold today, late,” head of the presidency Smuts Ngonyama told journalists at noon on Monday.
The nomination process is expected to result in a head-to-head clash for the top post between party president Thabo Mbeki and his deputy, Jacob Zuma, the only two people whose names have emerged in provincial pre-conference nomination conferences.
Nominations for president and the other top six officials in the party were supposed to be dealt with in a session late on Sunday night, but the conference adjourned early.
Ngonyama said the early closure was to allow the conference steering committee to deal with accreditation of delegates, and to allow it to look at ”the business of conference on many fronts”.
Vote-counting
On the dispute over manual versus electronic vote-counting, first raised by the ANC Youth League on Sunday, Ngonyama said that though the party’s electoral commission had decided that manual vote-counting could be used for both the top six leadership positions and the 60 national executive committee (NEC) positions, the steering committee would still decide on the matter as it would affect the conference logistics.
Also, there was a possibility that during Monday’s closed session on constitutional amendments, the NEC might be enlarged to 80 members, delaying vote-counting even further. This, added Jeff Radebe, also present at the media briefing, would enable the NEC to represent better the ”broad spectrum of South African society”, and a bigger NEC could have more contact with the party’s members throughout the country.
However, thus far the conference is still scheduled to end on Thursday, as many delegates have responsibilities elsewhere and the cost of extending the event would be a concern.
On Sunday, the conference was virtually ungovernable at times as Zuma supporters booed party chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota, an Mbeki ally.
Ngonyama said things had calmed down by Monday morning. ”We have a very vibrant, cohesive conference today, unlike yesterday when we had some challenges,” he said.
Radebe said the steering committee had discussed delegates’ behaviour, and delegates would no longer be allowed to carry placards ”with the faces of comrades standing for positions” in the conference venue.
”The atmosphere yesterday was not what we are used to at ANC conferences,” he said. ”The tension was very visible; you could cut it with a knife.” However, ”things have calmed down now and everyone understands that we cannot afford a conference that cannot complete its task”.
Asked about specific behaviour by delegates that he found objectionable, Radebe said: ”It’s very unusual that speaking delegates are booed down.”
He predicted no lengthy sessions for the commission policy discussions that were to start on Monday, saying: ”There appear to be no substantial inputs after the recommendations of the policy conference,” held earlier this year in Midrand.
What will the world conclude?
Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille has slammed the singing of Zuma’s anthem Umshini Wami. ”What will the world conclude about delegates who sing ”Bring me my machine gun” — and that on the official Day of Reconciliation?” she asked.
”The contest for the top job has become a battle for access to perks of various offices and the institutions of state to use against other opponents,” she said in a statement, adding that she could understand why Mbeki and others lamented this state of affairs.
While it is acceptable for politicians to show ambition and to advance their careers, there are honest and dishonest ways of doing so, she said. ”Their disruptive behaviour reflects on the whole country, not just on them or on their party.”
She asked: ”What conclusion will the world draw when delegates shout down the conference chairperson, or when they laugh and shout comments during the president’s opening speech?”
Rain and the ancestors
In Polokwane, delegates said heavy rains indicated a change of guard in the party was imminent.
”If you look at the Zulu traditional practices, you will find that there would be rainfall each time a new king is installed,” Mandla Simelane from KwaZulu-Natal said on Monday. ”From what happened yesterday [Sunday], there is no doubt that the heavy rains are a like a broom sweeping the ANC house in preparation for the new leadership about to come in.”
The clouds opened at the end of the day’s session.
Simelane said: ”You could see it was delegates from the Zuma camp who were dictating what the way forward should be. Mbeki supporters were nowhere to be seen.”
Another Zuma supporter, Alfred Seshogo, said it was an understatement to say Zuma would become the new ANC president at the end of the conference. ”The fact of the matter is that everything happening at the conference so far shows he has already taken charge,” he said. ”So, the rain was a way of the ANC ancestors welcoming and wishing him the best in his new position as the party president.”