Two new ambassadors-designate from the Western Cape have been added to the diplomatic corps in what is described as President Jacob Zuma’s attempt to purge the province of its warring factions.
The Mail & Guardian understands that former Western Cape social development minister Kholeka Mqulwana will become ambassador to Australia, while former Western Cape legislature speaker Shaun Byneveldt will become ambassador to Syria.
Mqulwana belongs to the Western Cape faction led by Mcebisi Skwatsha, while Byneveldt was part of former Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool’s faction.
Rasool was recently posted to the US as ambassador and Western Cape sources say the postings of Mqulwana and Bynelveldt aim to weaken both factions and diminish their ability to take control of the provincial ANC.
Shortly after the 2009 elections the ANC asked provinces to nominate candidates for ambassadorial posts.
“It caused chaos, because Shaun [Byneveldt] submitted only his own name,” alleged a former provincial leader.
Byneveldt did not make it back to the legislature after the ANC lost the province. Mqulwana was re-elected, but quit the legislature at the end of July.
Those close to her confirmed that she is packing for Down Under. “She’ll leave a gap in our group. There’s a whole attempt to dismantle our leadership,” said a former Western Cape leader sympathetic to Skwatsha.
A source sympathetic to Rasool also saw the appointments as part of Zuma’s provincial clean-up. “He wants to take away the key role players so that the province is less polarised,” the source said.
After last year’s elections there was talk of Skwatsha being appointed deputy minister in Zuma’s executive, on condition that he stayed out of Western Cape politics. This did not happen and he is currently a Western Cape legislature member.
Neither faction is happy with the provincial task team led by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana, which one source complained was “breaking down structures rather than building them up”.
Zuma recently visited the province and held meetings with ANC members. A legislature member said several former provincial leaders were lobbying for support for their factions at the ANC’s national general council.
“They ask us to support their projects at the NGC. Some try to woo us to support them in the fight between [ANC secretary general] Gwede Mantashe and [Deputy Police Minister] Fikile Mbalula.”
Mantashe and Mbalula are contesting the position of ANC secretary general, to be decided in 2012.
The ANC National Executive Committee has told the Western Cape ANC to hold a provincial conference by December this year to elect new provincial leaders.
Insiders say the provincial task team and the regional task team for the Dullah Omar region, which includes the Cape Town metro, are dragging their feet because they want to complete municipal election list processes before new leaders are elected.
“They want to entrench themselves so that their people are on the lists and can become councillors,” said one.
A set of new ambassadors will leave for abroad in November. International relations spokesperson Saul Molobi would not comment on the postings, saying no announcement would be made until the candidate ambassadors presented their credentials to the head of the receiving state. Mqulwana and Byneveldt did not reply to the M&G‘s messages.