Supra Mahumapelo made a dramatic comeback on Saturday when he elected as the ANC leader in the North West, 17 months after his provincial executive committee (PEC) was disbanded. Mahumapelo, the former provincial secretary, beat his rival Mmoloki Pheelwane by 409 votes to 313.
Mahumapelo’s slate took all top five positions with convincing numbers. His deputy chairperson, former Matlosana mayor China Dodovu, received the highest number of votes — 520 — while his opponent Moeti Moilwa managed only 203 votes.
ANC Youth League national executive committee member Kabelo Mataboge beat South African Communist Party executive committee member Zakes Molale to the powerful provincial secretary position.
The rest of the top five is made up of former provincial minister for local government in the North West Gordon Kegakilwe, who is the new deputy provincial secretary, and former Madibeng local municipality manager Philly Mapulane as treasurer.
Infighting
Mahumapelo was accused of leading a faction-based provincial leadership that caused divisions in the province. The national executive committee also alleged that the party’s infighting had spread into municipalities and threatened to affect the provincial government.
Members of the outgoing provincial task team led by Saki Mofokeng were heard consoling the losing faction and told each other that the task team had fulfilled its mandate. The team led the province for 17 months.
As part of the celebrations, the winning group were skeptical in their victory song: ‘athe Oliver Tambo o ne a ntse a mpona ga ke tsamaya tseleng e e thata”, [Oliver Tambo has been watching over me when I walked a difficult road]. The song was composed by supporters of Mahumapelo and the disbanded PEC, lamenting what they called the former PEC’s bad treatment by both Luthuli House and the task team.
The ANC Youth League congratulated the new leadership, particularly Mataboge, who comes from the youth league as well as another former league leader Songezo Mjongile, who was elected Western Cape provincial secretary.
“Their election is a confirmation that the ANC Youth League is a factory for genuine, progressive and appreciated leadership for the ANC and entire national liberation movement,” said the league in a statement.
The new provincial leaderships for both the North West and the Western Cape are faced with huge challenges of uniting the ANC in provinces that have been marred by deep divisions.