ANC North West set to ‘fix matters’ causing infighting

The ANC has deployed its national executive committee (NEC) to each of the nine provinces to fix matters among its structures.

The North West NEC deployees are facing a mammoth task to resolve a myriad issues in the troubled province.

‘Special meeting’

Teams of deployees with a convener each will be dispatched to each province, a decision made at the special meeting of the NEC on Monday, party secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said this week.

In the North West, the NEC deployees, with Soviet Lekganyane as convenor were Mondli Gungubele, Sputla Ramokgopa, Nkenke Kekana, Zoleka Capa, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni and Mdumiseni Ntuli.

They will confront numerous problems of infighting and numerous court challenges among party members.

One of the cases was brought by ANC members who questioned the legitimacy of the North West ANC provincial executive committee (PEC).

READ MORE: Aggrieved ANC North West members want conference declared null and void

Legal action

The members approached the courts to nullify the provincial conference held from in August 2022 and its decisions due to electoral irregularities.

They want the PEC, known as N12, led by provincial chair Nono Maloyi and elected at the conference, to be disbanded.

The members claim there were vote rigging and duplication of delegates who attended the provincial conference in Rustenburg in August 2022.

Some ANC branches in the Bojanala region have written to Luthuli House complaining about the failure of the ANC interim regional committee (IRC) in Bojanala to organise an elective conference.

They asked Luthuli House to intervene in the region to ensure the regional conference was held. Many ANC branches accused the IRC of deliberately not organising the conference last year.

Conference cancelled

The conference that was scheduled for November last year was cancelled at the last moment after the IRC claimed the number of delegates was not adding up and the region was not ready for the conference.

The branch members claimed 85% of the region’s branches qualified to attend the regional conference, way above the 70% threshold required by the ANC to hold the regional meeting, where new leaders were to be elected.

Proof of that was that the Bojanala region was well represented by branches at the 55th national conference at Nasrec last December.

“We don’t understand the reason for the delay because as branches in Bojanala, we are ready for it,” a member who asked to remain anonymous said.

NOW READ: ANC North West PEC facing bleak future as court challenge looms

‘Parachuted councillors’

The branches also asked Luthuli House to resolve the issue of “parachuted councillors” – unknown councillor candidates who are sneaked into ANC candidate lists without the knowledge of communities who nominated legitimate candidates for the November 2021 local government elections.

The matter was challenged in the high court in Mahikeng and a ruling is pending. The members also alleged that the Bojanala leadership illegally removed mayors, deputy mayors, speakers, deputy speakers and chief whips they believed did not support them in the municipalities.

Some mayors, including those of Madibeng and Matlosana local municipalities, had been accused of hiring municipal managers and chief financial officers irregularly and sidelining those they did not like. These were the issues that the Lekganyane team will have to grapple with in the North West, where ANC infighting hasn’t stopped since last year.

ALSO READ: ANC North West members take conference fight straight to Constitutional Court

– ericn@ citizen.co.za