The endorsement of President Cyril Ramaphosa by Mpumalanga provincial task team (PTT) convener Mandla Ndlovu has elicited a strong rebuke from his second in command, Lindiwe Ntshalintshali.
This after Ndlovu assured Ramaphosa that he had the full support of the province when the ANC president visited Mbombela on Monday.
While addressing party members with Ramaphosa seated on the stage, Ndlovu said there was no question from the ANC in Mpumalanga that Ramaphosa would receive a second term, adding that the province knew the ANC was safe in his hands.
“Comrade president, some people are fighting you; not here in Mpumalanga, you are safe,” Ndlovu said.
The statement seemed to solidify Ramaphosa’s re-election. Ndlovu was the fourth provincial leader to make a public declaration supporting Ramaphosa’s re-election after the Eastern Cape’s Oscar Mabuyane, Limpopo’s Stan Mathabatha and the Northern Cape’s Deshi Ngxanga.
Speaking to the Mail & Guardian, however, Ntshalintshali condemned Ndlovu’s language, saying that he was “undermining” branches.
She distanced the province from the statement, adding that the provincial leaders, branches and regions had not discussed the upcoming national elections at formal structures.
“It’s the chair speaking for himself because there is no structural decision. Do we have a decision as PTT? No. Do we have a decision as 80% voting delegates? No. He must not say Mpumalanga, he must say, I, Mandla Ndlovu, support him, not Mpumalanga.
“There was a [hauling over the coals] in the Nkangala region when the chairperson [Speedy Mashilo] tried that,” Ntasshlintshali said. “
You might want to undermine branches because they are seated down and you have the monopoly of the microphone and say we support this one and that one and they will not talk back. Branches are saying let’s wait and start the processes. To say Mpumalanga is in support — there is no such decision.”
Ndlovu, who assumed the position of acting chair when Deputy President David Mabuza was elected at the Nasrec conference, is the frontrunner to lead the province when it goes to conference on 18 March.
The long-awaited conference is, however, expected to face court action should it proceed. Disgruntled members approached the court in February to interdict the conference, which was meant to sit that month. It was postponed because of the court challenge.
Former provincial ANC deputy chairperson Charles Makola questioned the legitimacy of the newly installed task team, saying that it was constituted by the same “problematic” members who had been part of the provincial executive committee (PEC).
Makola said the challenge would be based on the ANC constitution, which makes clear the roles of the national working committee (NWC) and the national executive committee (NEC).
The M&G previously reported that the NWC had discussed whether to disband the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga regions during a meeting on 28 February, with action being taken in the affirmative.
Makola said there was ground to challenge the legitimacy of the process to install the task team, which was charged to take the province to its elective conference.
He said that the decision by the NWC to disband the PEC and install a task team still needed to be ventilated at the NEC.
“You can’t, in … that intervening period, say we must have a conference. It’s not possible. There are issues that have not been resolved, they are not yet legitimate, the NEC has not sat. Why are they [the NWC] causing confusion?” he said.
Responding to threats of court action, Ntshalintshali said that the NWC had been given powers by the NEC to oversee the dissolution of provincial and regional executive committees whose terms of office had lapsed.
She added that the province had made preparations for 280 of its 300 branches by paying for accommodation and paraphernalia for next week’s conference.
“We wish them luck: let them go to court. There is a standing decision on this matter: it’s just a matter of implementation. Maybe legally [the court] will interpret it for them, but where we are as a movement, they cannot succeed in interrupting our conference.”
She slammed disgruntled former leaders who were keen to take the structures to court, saying that there was an air of “superiority” among some of them, whom she claimed were clinging to their former status in the hopes that their political careers would be resuscitated.
“The last time they were in leadership was 15 years ago and they messed up. Some of them were fired from their positions. How do you want to lead the province when you can’t even establish and lead your own branch? They said they wanted the attention of the ANC but how, when you are going to court and you are defeated by your own branch? Well and good, go to court, but we shall defend the ANC,” she said.
Ntshalintshali, who was nominated as acting secretary in 2017, said that the provincial leaders were also frustrated by the constant delays and postponement of conference, and denied that this was of their own doing.
She listed a number of reasons that led to delays, including lockdown regulations, violence in branches and the local government elections.
Ntshalintshali accused members who were intent on challenging the conference of still basing their politics on the Nasrec factions.
“They [NWC] are not doing us a favour by appointing us as the task team. The disgruntled members want an inclusive PTT, but what is the point when the PTT will only stand for a week? Factional issues of Nasrec have long passed,” she said.
“In terms of our constitution, you appoint an electoral committee as an independent body to receive and deal with nominations and the NEC will deploy its members. It’s not us running the conference … We are making sure that coordination and other things are done in the province.”
[/membership]