A fresh court bid by ANC members this week challenging Free State party chairperson Ace Magashule and his executive has thrown a harsh light on infighting among provincial ANC chiefs.
Senior ANC member Vax Mayekiso, MP Sello Dithebe and leaders from three ANC regions have asked the Bloemfontein High Court to nullify three regional conferences held last weekend and reverse the suspension of Dithebe and Mayekiso from ANC activities.
Their main charge is that ANC procedures have been manipulated to exclude thousands of members who do not support the current provincial leadership.
They also argue that Magashule and his executive ignored an earlier court order for them to cooperate with members excluded from forming new branches and regions.
The group told the Mail & Guardian that anyone who challenges the provincial leadership is branded a member of a “Thabo Mbeki clique”.
The application also reveals that ANC Free State secretary Charlotte Lobe resigned because she was disillusioned by the way the ANC is conducting itself in the province. Lobe, an influential member of the ANC Women’s League, resigned in February this year.
“In the past two months the provincial executive has indulged itself in matters that I personally think are not in the interest of strengthening the ANC, but has the potential of dividing the organisation,” Lobe says in her resignation letter.
“The case of allowing like-minded people to hold meetings in some regions whilst accusing others of secret meetings if they are viewed differently is a point of concern.”
Lobe complained that the then deputy secretary, Sibongile Besani, decided on provincial executive meetings with Magashule without her knowledge.
She said that there were “consolidated efforts to render me useless by sidelining me from my core function. I want to submit that the current conditions in the PEC [provincial executive committee] are not conducive, not only to my conscience, but also to my health.”
Lobe, who was elected to the ANC national executive committee (NEC) in Polokwane last year, also cited a clause in the party constitution providing that provincial leaders elected to the NEC must vacate their provincial positions.
ANC provincial spokesperson Qondile Khedama said his only response was that PEC members still held Lobe in high esteem and that she had cordial relations with all of them, including Magashule.
Khedama said branch members respected Magashule for his humility and allegations that he was feared were unfounded.
The ANC clause should also apply to Magashule, who was also elected to the NEC in Polokwane. However, he has decided not to relinquish the party chair because clause 12.8 of the ANC constitution also says a leader elected to the NEC can retain his or her provincial position in exceptional circumstances.
Magashule’s aides said the “exceptional circumstance” is that branches want him to stay in the province to fight the court cases.
A fellow PEC member said the problem in the Free State is that many councillors, mayors and municipal managers are Magashule’s appointees. “Even though many are tired of him now, they would never oppose him publicly,” he said.
With a month to go until the provincial ANC congress it is unclear who will challenge Magashule.
Former friends-turned-foes Papi Kganare, Casca Mokitlane and Pat Matosa are being considered for the position by his opponents. But younger members feel his old cronies should make way for former provincial youth leaders such as Seeiso Mohai, Tsietsi Setona and Dark City Molaba to take the reins.