The ANC faces a dilemma: by the end of this month (June) it must reach consensus on a new leader for the party who should then become chairperson of the ANC West Rand region.
Songs that shaped the struggle reverberated in Chief Mogale on Sunday, 3 June, as the ANC’s Maki Legwete branch, Ward 11 in Kagiso nominated its candidates for the regional party’s elective conference.
In what was a rare occurrence, members of the branch come out in numbers to have their say.
They arrived earlier than the scheduled start and were in good spirits, despite the deployee of the region arriving over seven hours late.
Due to being late, the deployee failed dismally to take members through the discussion document – The Guidelines, Organisational Renewal and Through the Eye of the Needle?. Truth of the matter is that in broad daylight the party loyalists were robbed of important party policies.
The ANC released an internal discussion document that seeks to preserve its soul as the champion of the poor.
This prompted their other section of members who were unhappy with the process to lodge a complaint with the Appeals Committee in the region.
In Ward 11, support was split between chairmanship front runners, the Executive Mayor of Merafong Local Municipality, Maphefo Letsie, and the ANC West Rand deputy chairperson Mzibo Khumalo, who is also the Executive Mayor of the Rand West City Local Municipality.
The South African National Civic Organisation’s (Sanco) understanding of the ANC tradition was that 1997 (the Mafikeng Conference) took care of 2007 because the tradition is that the deputy takes over from the president.
Hence, Sanco in Mogale City endorsed Mzibo to succeed current chairperson Boyce Maneli, who is eyeing a top vice-position in the province, while Tshepo Nzwane, a Ward 12 councillor in Kagiso is tipped to become deputy chairperson to replace Mzibo. It was Letsie who would prevail, based on votes by show of hands.
Yet the process of selecting ANC candidates for regional conference elections should have been a relatively smooth and straightforward affairs.
The meeting ended amicably with the shaking of hands, jokes and members taking pictures with myself and my fiancée, Tiny Sebogodi, as we were among the members in good standing who arrived to participate in this crucial process that includes deciding on the composition of voting delegates at the ANC elective conference.
