/ 18 February 2011

Knives out in Cape ballot

Knives Out In Cape Ballot

Allegations of bribery, threats of violence and unconstitutional decisions by leaders about who can vote lie in the wake of the recent conference in which deputy minister of international relations Marius Fransman was chosen as African National Congress (ANC) chairperson in the Western Cape.

Two affidavits in the possession of the Mail & Guardian claim Fransman’s supporters tried to bribe delegates to persuade them to vote for candidates who would support him at the regional conference or to vote for him at the provincial conference from February 11 to February 13 in Cape Town.

According to one affidavit, date-stamped February 8 by the South African Police Service, a delegate at the West Coast regional conference in Clanwilliam was asked to “make his price” for his vote.

ANC delegate and branch chairperson Johannes Snyders, who is a school janitor in Eendekuil outside Piketberg, says in his one-page affidavit that two delegates who supported Fransman offered him money for his vote.

“On Saturday, January 4 at about 18h00, I was in Clanwilliam. We were approached and told that we must say what amount of money we want in order for us to side with them.”

‘Money was offered to me’
In an interview with the M&G, Snyders confirmed the contents of the affidavit, saying the bribe followed three rounds of voting that took place at the conference for which each round was equally divided between the two candidates.

The provincial task team member who allegedly made the offer is known to the M&G and named in the affidavit, but he could not be reached for comment.

Said Snyder: “They knew that we were [Fransman’s rival Mcebisi] Skwatsha people and they said that they don’t have a lot of money, but if we make our price, they would be able to accommodate us.”

In another affidavit, ANC volunteer Zola Lamla says he was offered money to vote for Fransman. The affidavit does not specify the amount.

“I was approached on Monday, February 7, and money was offered to me to vote for the Marius Fransman group,” Lamla’s affidavit says. This week Lamla refused to comment on the affidavit. The person who allegedly made the offer is also known to the M&G, but could not be reached for comment.

In an interview with the M&G, Fransman denied knowledge of these bribe attempts and said he would denounce any such acts if he knew they were taking place.

A Fransman supporter, Reginald Patience, the secretary of the Coniff January branch in the rural town of Riebeeck, told the M&G this week that a supporter of Skwatsha had threatened he would come to his home “to shoot him”.

This allegedly followed an altercation with a group of Skwatsha supporters outside a Cape Town hotel where both camps were staying.

‘Not in good standing’
Meanwhile, Western Cape ANC structures sent at least two letters appealing against the outcome to ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe this week, complaining about the voting rights given to the ANC Youth League at the conference.

At a press conference in Cape Town this week, Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel said Fransman’s election was legitimate and that people “must not cry foul later”.

The decision to allow the youth league to vote was taken after consultation with the national executive and after all 721 delegates had voted on the matter, Manuel said.

However, some members of the youth league provincial task team, which was set up after the league was disbanded in the Western Cape last year, have sent letters of appeal claiming irregularities at the conference, the M&G has learned.

Complaints from other delegates centred on the decision that a vote should be taken at the conference about whether the youth league should vote. “This should not have even been considered as the youth league had been dissolved and was not in good standing,” said an ANC delegate.

When credentials were presented at the conference, delegates were simply told that the youth league would vote, the M&G has established. This was allegedly contested in the plenary at the conference.

“It didn’t go down well and it was rejected,” said an ANC voting delegate supporting the Skwatsha camp. “It was forced on us. The majority view was that the youth league should not vote, but Trevor Manuel ruled that the conference should take a vote on whether the youth league should vote, and ruled that the youth league should also vote on the matter, which presented a conflict.”

The outcome of this vote was that the youth league would vote, the delegate said. The Skwatsha camp saw this as swinging the vote in favour of Fransman because the majority of the youth league backed him.

The provincial ANC Women’s League has also sent a letter of appeal, based on irregularities it believed occurred at the Western Cape provincial conference.