Pretoria - The ANC in Limpopo has defended its chairperson and premier, Stan Mathabatha for his unsuccessful last-minute bid to support former health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize instead of the initial decision to back President Cyril Ramaphosa at the party’s 55th national conference that ended on Tuesday.
Mathabatha unsuccessfully contested the position of chairperson, challenging Gwede Mantashe, who was duly re-elected. Ramaphosa was re-elected president after receiving 2 476 votes. Mkhize managed to score 1 897 votes.
Limpopo had arrived at the conference having vowed to support Ramaphosa, but after realising that the president had no intention of supporting Mathabatha in favour of Mantashe, the Limpopo chairperson and his deputy, Florence Radzilani, made a U-turn in support of Mkhize.
Videos circulating on social media showed Radzilani addressing Limpopo delegates, informing them that Mkhize was their new candidate and no longer Ramaphosa.
Other video clips showed Mathabatha addressing KwaZulu-Natal candidates, pledging his support to Mkhize.
Despite some members of the party calling for Mathabatha’s head because of his last-minute U-turn, calling for a special national general committee meeting to fire him and Radzilani, provincial secretary Reuben Madadzhe has come out in defence of the two, saying they had the right to “lobby” and be “lobbied” for any position.
He was speaking on the sidelines of the last day of the conference.
“Remember, people are allowed to lobby or be lobbied and are allowed to change their initial decisions through persuasion. This is a conference and there is nothing illegal about being persuaded. They have the right to be persuaded,” Madadzhe said.
He dismissed rumours on social media that Mathabatha’s job was on the line. “We are not going to run this provincial executive committee through Twitter or Facebook. We were elected by conference and we know how to run our organisation.”
Madadzhe also vowed that members of the ANC in the province were united under Mathabatha’s leadership.
“The province under the stewardship of the provincial chair (Mathabatha) will remain united. He is not factual but a man of principle. When he gets home he will be able to unite all of us,” said Madadzhe.
Mathabatha’s office issued a statement yesterday quashing rumours that he was planning to retire.
His spokesperson Willy Mosoma said: “Following the recent media reports related to an imminent retirement of Premier Stanley Chupu Mathabatha from office, we would want to put in on record that Premier Mathabatha is committed to remain in office until the end of his term of government in 2024 when the next national elections will be held.
Premier Mathabatha says that he would want to continue to consolidate the work of turning around the Limpopo provincial administration, as he has done in the past term of administration.”
Days before the conference, the Pretoria News had reported that the ANC in Limpopo had been divided over who to support for the presidential position. Members contradicted Mathabatha’s assertion that the party supported Ramaphosa’s ambitions.
Pretoria News