Provincial ANC keen to back Mabuza for top spot

MBOMBELA – The provincial ANC is  not backing down to have its chairman,  Mr David Mabuza, elected as national ANC deputy president during the party’s national elective conference in December 2017.

Mabuza has, on numerous occasions, stated that he is not interested.

The party’s national executive committee started what was to be a three-day conference on Friday. It was extended to Monday.

The meeting’s agenda was not made public but reports suggested that Mr Jacob Zuma’s position as president of the ANC and the country, was under discussion.

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Over the weekend reports claimed that three ministers, Messrs Derek Henekom, Aaron Motsoaledi and Thulas Nxesi, called for Zuma to resign following the publication of his relationship with the controversial Gupta family in the Public Protector’s State of Capture report.

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Their call followed that of party veterans and the parliament chief whip, Mr Jackson Mthembu.

Mabuza is a staunch Zuma supporter and has declared that he is not impressed with those within the organisation who are pushing him to contest power in 2017.

“I am not going to be a part of people who want to divide the organisation,” he told reporters in September.

“We went to the Polokwane conference divided as factions and that was not healthy for the party. It gave birth to COPE and we lost a part of ourselves.”

The ANC rubbished reports that it aimed to influence the election by growing its membership drastically ahead of the conference to secure a larger number of voting delegates.

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Spokesman, Ms Sasekani Manzini, told Lowvelder their efforts to increase membership was made in response to calls made by supporters.

“When we went on door-to-door campaigning prior the August 3 local government elections, supporters showed an interest in being card-carrying members of the party rather than just being ordinary supporters,” she said.

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A steep decline has been reported in the ANC’s membership in the province, but Manzini insisted it was growing every day. She would not confirm the exact number.

An investigation by local newspaper Ziwaphi in 2015, uncovered that members of the ruling party had colluded with an FNB bank teller in Limpopo to manipulate the ANC’s membership system in a branch in eMalahleni (Witbank) by allegedly appending the bank’s official stamps to blank ANC membership forms.

The party’s constitution prevents members who have not concluded the six months’ probation period from participating in internal elections.

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Manzini said although the mother body has not started processes of choosing leadership the province, it would not mind to have Mabuza as a deputy president when the party elects new leadership.

She said it was normal for a province to want their representatives in the decision-making body.

Manzini said like any member of the ANC, leaders are chosen and if branches and delegates decide any person had to answer to the call.

“The chairman is a member of the organisation and he understands how organisational processes work. If he is