Up in the air: Gauteng provincial secretary TK Nciza. Photos: X/ANC and Gallo Images
The “reconfiguration” of the ANC leadership in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal after last year’s dismal election results has left the party in disarray.
It has yet to be officially announced who has been removed from the provincial executive committees (PECs) as part of this process.
On Wednesday, the ANC said the new leadership in the two provinces would focus on inspiring hope, addressing the electoral setbacks and driving transformation and development, in line with the party’s renewal agenda, but the lack of transparency in the restructuring process has left many in the dark.
A national working committee source said the officials driving the process were themselves confused.
“Nomvula [Mokonyane] went to say in KZN that they are not disbanded and they were not reconfigured and we will add just a few people to come and support you. “She also told them they were doing a good job,” the source said of the party’s first deputy secretary general.
“Maropene [Ramokgopa, the second deputy secretary general] arrives in Gauteng to say, ‘You are reconfigured,’ and that they should stop doing anything from now on until the new team arrives.
“So, it is all that confusion that they have as national officials.”
National working committee members were unclear about what decisions had been taken and there was frustration among the national executive committee, they added.
“National executive committee [NEC] members are complaining that we are looking like an organisation in disarray.”
The Mail & Guardian has gathered that names had been bandied about in the national working committee, but nothing was finalised, hence the failure of the party to announce who would be deployed to the provinces.
One source said, if the national working committee (NWC) sat on Friday, or next Monday, the name would probably be finalised.
Another NWC source said this was not a reconfiguration but rather a dissolution of both the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal structures.
They said unelected outsiders could not be brought into provincial structures without those structures being dissolved.
“The PECs are dissolved; this reconfiguration is just big English. You cannot reconfigure, constitutionally…” they told the M&G.
“You cannot bring in someone [from] outside if you don’t dissolve. Legally, that is what you do — you dissolve and then you reconstitute.”
The ANC’s national executive committee has the power to dissolve or suspend provincial executive committees but the party’s constitution does not provide for reconfiguration.
The national working committee insider said the party’s insistence on calling this a reconfiguration would create problems down the line, and those who were ousted might have a leg to stand should they challenge this decision.
“If you say you didn’t dissolve, then the secretaries will have to stay and the officials will stay, as elected in the conference.
“The [provincial executive committees] will also stay, as they
are elected in the conference,” they said.
The source confirmed that both Bheki Mtolo and TK Nciza, the provincial secretaries of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, respectively, had been removed from their positions.
There had also been a strong lobby for KwaZulu-Natal provincial chair Siboniso Duma to be removed but he had survived, as had Gauteng chair Panyaza Lesufi.
The party knew that “there were comrades that are already seeking legal advice on this matter”, they said, with some Gauteng provincial executive committee members considering challenging the decision to “reconfigure” them in court.
Another national working committee source said ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe became angry when members of the committee sought to reopen the debate about whether this was reconfiguration or disbandment on the grounds that there was no mention of the former in the ANC constitution.
“[Mantashe] said that we can’t open a debate because the NEC said it was a reconfiguration. Comrades told him, ‘You can’t tell us you are not opening this thing for debate.’ He became angry and said, ‘One day I will take my things and go to Cala [his home village] and leave you here,’” the source said.
“The president, at the end, addressed that issue, saying in the [national working committee] meeting … we must respect the decorum so we can discuss properly and we have to be professional in what we are doing.”
A second source confirmed that tempers had flared during the discussion.
A Gauteng provincial executive committee member said they were still not sure why Nciza had been removed and it was not clear how exactly the reconfiguration would work.
There has been speculation that Lesufi would be made a co-convenor of Gauteng, with Amos Masondo, with Hope Papo becoming the province’s coordinator.
But one source was sceptical about whether those rumoured to be set for deployment to the province could rejuvenate the party or inspire confidence in voters.
“I mean, what is Masondo going to do? This does not make sense at all. Even those who went to the meeting on Tuesday still can not make sense of what this is.”
The source said the reconfiguration increasingly appeared to be based on factional battles rather than ensuring that the party was rebuilt or renewed.
“It’s suspicious because why are you only removing the secretaries if there’s no factionalism? We will still wait for them to tell us exactly what this means because we have no idea if we have been dissolved as the [provincial executive committee] or not.
“So we are in the dark as well; we’ll just wait for a statement or a letter.”
Another Gauteng provincial executive committee member said the ANC had not communicated anything to them.
“I don’t know what this is — a dissolution or reconfiguration. I don’t know what they are doing but I’m sure they know. You need to ask them because I don’t know anything. I am also just waiting like you.”
Asked whether they would approach the courts over the issue, they said no.
“I don’t know about others, but what am I going to do in court?”ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said all the names of those who would be part of the reconfiguration in both provinces would be announced in due course.