Durban - LOBBYISTS for former health minister Zweli Mkhize said the support given by delegates from KwaZulu-Natal was not reciprocated by those campaigning in other provinces.
Cyril Ramaphosa was re-elected president of the ANC yesterday with 2 476 votes compared with Mkhize’s 1 897. KZN, which had endorsed Mkhize prior to the conference, had close to 900 delegates or 20% of the voters at the conference out of the total of 4 436 eligible voters.
Mkhize’s supporters said this was a considerable voting group and while others in his slate were elected to the Top Seven – Paul Mashatile was elected deputy president and Nomvula Mokonyane first deputy secretary-general – Mkhize did not get the required support from other provinces.
The ANC in KZN also has no representative in the Top Seven.
On Saturday, Mkhize appeared to be leading, with ANC leaders in the North West, Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga saying they would vote for him.
A delegate at the elective conference, speaking on condition of anonymity, said last-minute horse trading saw Gauteng and Limpopo change their plans.
“GP and Limpopo pulled a DD on us,” said the source, alluding to how deputy president David Mabuza had ensured Ramaphosa was victorious at the 2017 conference by swinging the Mpumalanga votes at the last minute.
“It looked very good on Saturday night before voting. Then Ramaphosa’s campaign people started to panic. The president called (Ronald) Lamola and asked him to withdraw,” said the source.
Mashatile was elected deputy president with 2 178 votes, Lamola received 315 and Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane received 1 858 votes.
KZN ANC provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo said they had fought a good fight for democracy in the party, but Ramaphosa was elected.
“We campaigned and he won and we must accept that he won and he is president until 2027. These are leaders of the ANC elected at the conference and we have no choice but to support them. Conference has spoken and this is the Top Seven elected by branches, we are not above branches. Branches again repeated the message from 2017 that we must move away from slate politics.”
Mtolo said there was no law that says a candidate from KZN must be in the Top Seven of the party. “We are not electing people here from a geographical location, we are electing members of the ANC. You are a member of the ANC nationally and whether you are staying in KZN or Limpopo, it is your choice, but you are a member of the ANC nationally,” Mtolo said.
Other leaders elected to the Top Seven include Gwede Mantashe, who retained the chairperson position; Fikile Mbalula, who was elected secretary-general; Nomvula Mokonyane, first deputy secretary-general; Maropene Ramokgopa, second deputy secretary-general; and Gwen Ramokgopa, treasurer-general.
Political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe said Ramaphosa’s re-election was akin to the ANC shooting itself in the foot.
“Opposition parties will make a meal of the Phala Phala matter, and when it goes to court, Ramaphosa will have to explain himself, whereas so far he has been ducking and diving on the issue. The ANC will also find itself on the back foot with voters,” said Seepe.
He said law-enforcement agencies were unwilling or unable to deal with the president’s farm scandal, and his re-election will make them more fearful.
“State organs have been weakened and have been unable to do their work and citizens will be watching all of this ahead of the 2024 elections.”
Political analyst Professor Lesiba Teffo said Ramaphosa will have his fair share of challenges, including Phala Phala.
Teffo also raised the issue of the fact that most of the senior leaders hail from Gauteng.
He said he felt the party missed an opportunity to have a better spread of national representatives in its Top Seven.
“I am uneasy with the spread of national representation in the Top Seven, it is concentrated in Gauteng and that province is over-represented.
“A limping ANC, a divided party, is not good for the country. I would’ve been
happier with a greater representation across all the nine provinces. The ANC is not only divided, but it is also not representative of the country,” said Teffo.
Trade union Cosatu’s president Zingiswa Losi, speaking on the sidelines of the elective conference, said the public sector wage talks were an ongoing issue with the ANC.
“The first thing on the agenda will be the issues we raised here, the plight of workers in general in South Africa.
“We have workers in the mining industry who do not know where the future lies with the just energy transition. We have a whole lot of issues that we need to put on the table with this leadership and have honest and thorough discussions,” said Losi.
In September, Mantashe was booed off the stage at Cosatu’s conference by workers who had been denied their increase.
Ramaphosa was also embarrassed when he was heckled at Cosatu’s May Day rally by disgruntled Sibanye-Stillwater employees.
THE MERCURY