The next conference of the Eastern Cape ANC will show that the split between Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma loyalists, which has been called the ”Polokwane template”, has been replaced by competition between rival Zuma supporters for positions in the provinces.
The ANC’s biggest province, the Eastern Cape, will be the first to elect new provincial leaders since the 2007 Polokwane conference.
The election is expected to underscore the emerging rivalries among Zuma’s supporters, formerly a unified bloc, at provincial level.
The frontrunner for provincial chairperson is Eastern Cape finance minister Mcebisi Jonas, who has won over the two largest regions in the province — OR Tambo, centred in Mthatha, and Amathole, centred in East London.
His rival is provincial health minister Phumulo Masualle, who is also the South African Communist Party treasurer. As an avid Zuma backer at Polokwane, Masualle was widely tipped to take the provincial chair.
Jonas was also a Zuma man, but his association with another Polokwane contender, businessman Tokyo Sexwale, now the human settlements minister, has cast doubt on his support.
With other former provincial leaders, including Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile, Deputy Public Enterprises Minister Enoch Godongwana and parliamentary rural development committee chairperson Stone Sizani, Jonas was named in the controversial Pillay Commission report.
The report, which fingered the four men for alleged corruption while they were serving in the Eastern Cape government, was used as a political tool by the former premier, Nosimo Balindlela, against them.
It was later overturned by the Grahamstown High Court, which found it had overstepped its terms of reference and had failed to seek comment from those implicated.
Jonas became the Eastern Cape finance minister after this year’s elections, while Masualle was demoted to health minister. According to those who know him, Jonas embarked on a fierce campaign for the ANC provincial chair.
Party insiders say Masualle’s reshuffling of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation during his short stint as finance minister made ANC leaders fearful that they would be purged once he become chairperson. They rallied around Jonas.
Others argue that Masualle already sits on the ANC’s national executive committee and should focus on national matters.
Most of the provincial leaders were aligned with Mbeki at the Polokwane conference. Some left the ANC to join the Congress of the People, while those who stayed behind agreed to work with Zuma.
Pemmy Majodina, Eastern Cape provincial secretary, confirmed that the conference will be held in early September, as the term of the provincial executive committee is expiring.
The recent Amathole conference in East London was mired in controversy as unhappy delegates complained to Luthuli House that they were short-changed by the organisers, who, they said, switched the venue at the last minute.
ANC deputy secretary general Thandi Modise was dispatched to deal with the complaints, which were aired at a provincial executive committee meeting in King William’s Town on Wednesday this week.