Limpopo branches have rejected any alliance by its provincial leaders with KwaZulu-Natal in support of Zweli Mkhize. (Delwyn Verasamy, M&G)
ANC regional leaders in Limpopo have reaffirmed their support for the ANC’s president Cyril Ramaphosa ahead of the provincial general council set to take place on Tuesday.
Leaders from the Peter Mokaba, Sekhukhune, Vhembe and Waterberg regions said they were unequivocally in support of Ramaphosa being elected for a second term.
Limpopo is one of the three biggest ANC provinces and is expected to take a delegation of more than 500 voting members to the party’s conference.
The regional leaders said they had not been swayed by the Phala Phala matter implicating Ramaphosa in wrongdoing.
The Peter Mokaba regional chair, John Mpe, said the region’s branches had met and concluded to reaffirm their position around Ramaphosa, deputy president nominee Paul Mashatile and national chairperson contender Stan Mathabatha.
A possible alliance with the KwaZulu-Natal provincial leadership on the leadership positions was dismissed by all four regional leaders.
According to two provincial executive committee (PEC) members, branches had revolted against any decision by its top brass to align with Zweli Mkhize.
“Branches are not interested in listening to leaders anymore …. If the PEC wants to take a different posture they are gone,” one PEC member said, adding that although the majority of the province was firm on Mathabatha emerging as national chair, some would support David Masondo and Gwede Mantashe for the position.
The PEC member said parts of the Waterberg region, mainly in Lephalale, were supporting Mantashe for a second term as national chair while parts of Mopani in Norman Mashaba region as well as Collins Chabane in Vhembe favoured Masondo.
“Branches say any change made will not be accepted if it doesn’t have Ramaphosa.”
The two provincial leaders agreed that although secretary general contender Mdumiseni Ntuli had received the most number of nominations during the branch general meetings, Fikile Mbalula’s campaign in the province was taking shape.
“There is a general hesitation to support Ntuli because he is not getting the bulk of support from his province,” the second PEC member said.
The party leader claimed that while the provincial executive committee was divided on whether to support Mkhize or Ramaphosa, branches were resolute on a second term for the latter.
The party leader claimed that Mathabatha cancelled his visit to KwaZulu-Natal after sensing “discomfort” from Limpopo branches over his ties to Mkhize.
“He was supposed to go to eThekwini to speak on 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. That would have been seen as supporting Mkhize. When he cancelled the appearance, KwaZulu-Natal felt they were being taken for a ride. KwaZulu-Natal supported Mathabatha but they feel Limpopo is not doing the same for their candidate Dr Mkhize.
“There are elements that the relationship between KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo is sour. Limpopo is also angry with Gauteng and Mashatile because we expected Mathabatha to receive 80% of their nominations. There are some who feel that Gauteng is betraying us,” the PEC leader said, adding that there was a general feeling that Mashatile was trying to please everyone.
“If not properly calculated he might lose the conference,” the PEC member said.
Mathabatha is said to be caught between a rock and a hard place because the province has resisted supporting Mkhize’s campaign.
The second PEC member said any attempts to change the position of the province against Ramaphosa had been met with resistance on the ground.
They said the PEC took a decision in Mathabatha’s absence to make an appearance in KwaZulu-Natal.
“The PEC has said that Mathabatha must be seen walking side by side with Zweli in the campaign. He knew that if he goes to KwaZulu-Natal branches will know who he has committed [to] and make him a hypocrite because he is the one who stood up during the January 8 celebrations and declared for Ramaphosa. The province also endorsed Ramaphosa for a second term,” the provincial leader said.
“He is caught between the devil and deep sea because he committed himself to Zweli Mhize … but cannot deliver branches of ANC in the province. If he insists on supporting Mkhize he will arrive at Nasrec naked.”
The provincial leader said part of the problem faced by Mathabatha’s faction was that it had never made an honest reflection of the branches.
“The people of Limpopo love Ramaphosa. The last time the ANC president was elected from Limpopo was in 1917. The developments of last week on Phala Phala [left everyone in the province with bated breath]. Everywhere you went, people wanted to know what was going to happen. Some were saying once you ask him to step aside you must know we will never vote for you,” they said.
The provincial leader said Ramaphosa was a “beacon of hope” for the provincial ANC members, who wanted one of their own in the top six.
“There is no way a person can come here and say Ramaphosa must go. Branches have been observing the movement of the leadership. When they went to KwaZulu-Natal for the first time, they wanted to wait and see. When branches in Limpopo saw the pronouncement of KwaZulu-Natal branches on Mathabatha, they began to ask questions and when the PEC said Mathabatha must work side by side with Zweli, branches said not in our name,” they said.
Sekhukhune regional secretary Mathope Thala said they had never changed their view on Ramaphosa, adding that the region had not discussed Mkhize as its possible candidate.
“We will never change. We will continue to affirm our view on Ramaphosa and Mathabatha,” they said.
The chairperson of the second biggest region in Vhembe, Tshitereke Matibe, said they were 100% behind Ramaphosa, while the Waterberg regional chair said that they had affirmed their support for the ANC president during their regional general council.
Mpe, a staunch ally of Ramaphosa and, until recently, of Limpopo heavyweight Danny Msiza, called into question national executive committee (NEC) members who called for Ramaphosa to step aside.
ANC leaders including presidential hopefuls Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Lindiwe Sisulu and Mkhize have criticised Ramaphosa over the Phala Phala scandal.
Mpe called the party leaders “hypocrites”, adding that some of them had abused the public purse.
During Mkhize’s tenure as health minister, he had to resign after it emerged that he and his family allegedly benefited from an unlawful tender which received millions from the Covid-19 recovery plan.
“If the [Phala Phala] money came from the state, we would be the first to deal with the matter. But people who are not themselves very innocent are talking as if they were running government departments and their family and friends did not benefit.
“We know there are financial intelligence regulations but the manner of the approach, particularly the approach spearheaded by those who cannot come clean on their own activities while in government, is worrisome.”
Mpe said he believed NEC members who had spoken out against Ramaphosa were attempting to “disrupt” the ANC president.
“The problem is that the direction of change goes to those who cannot even come clean of their own government scandals. The fight against corruption might not have been perfect but it’s the right way to go as an organisation. Some of the conduct of some of the NEC comrades talking about step-aside and the president is worrying.”