Deputy international relations minister Marius Fransman was elected unopposed as the chairperson of the Western Cape African National Congress on Saturday night after his rival, former chairperson Mcebisi Skwatsha, refused to stand for nomination and alleged the proceedings were “fraudulent.”
Skwatsha supporters claimed he stood up in the conference and told the gathering he was not prepared to participate as he considered the proceedings “fraudulent”.
As a result, the top five positions were all unopposed, according to party spokesperson Mandla Dlamini.
Fransman’s deputy is Abe Pekeur, while the secretary is Songezo Mjongile. Maureen Elliot, the former mayor of the Overberg region, was elected as deputy secretary and Fezile Calana was chosen as treasurer.
The row over the conference began after some delegates disputed the decision by the ANC’s constitutional committee to allow the youth league 23 votes.
Voting for the other positions continued on Sunday afternoon.
The youth league in the province was disbanded last year, and ANC Youth League provincial task team sources claimed in a Mail & Guardian report last week that the secretary general of the ANC, Gwede Mantashe, had been present at an ANC meeting where it was decided that the youth league should not vote.
The Swatsha supporters were angered by the fact that it was decided at the conference to take a vote on whether the youth league should vote — and allowed the youth league to also vote on the matter.
This is said to have favoured Fransman, as the youth league delegates were said to be supporting him.
A source close to Skwatsha told the M&G this was why Skwatsha had declined the nomination, and why the other top four positions had been unopposed.
‘Do or die’
President Jacob Zuma addressed the conference on Saturday and did not mince his words.
He criticised delegates for failing to not only regain the region from the Democratic Alliance, but also for not working as a functioning opposition party.
Zuma, who spoke from handwritten notes, argued that the conference should not focus on questions of leadership, referring obliquely to the contest between Skwatsha and Fransman, but rather on the task of returning the organisation in the Western Cape to health.
He warned that a conference such as this one could work to address the in-fighting ailing the province — such as a scalpel in the hands of a surgeon operating on a sick patient.
But he said the congress could also work to deepen the strife that has beset the organisation in the province “like a knife in the hands of a criminal”.
“Today it is do or die,” he told delegates.
Additional reporting by Lynley Donnelly