Cape Town - Trouble is brewing within the Western Cape ANC regions as disgruntled party members turned to Luthuli House for help after questioning the credibility of conferences held in the Overberg and the Central Karoo over the past two weekends.
Both conferences were plagued by membership disputes, infighting and factional battles.
Conference delegates say two ANC caucuses in the province have emerged as lead contenders for leading the province – those aligned to the current provincial leadership under Marius Fransman and Songezo Mjongile, and a splinter group called “unity in diversity”.
ANC delegates in the Overberg and Karoo regions said those aligned to the current leadership have dominated the conferences in their respective areas, with strong opposition coming from the “unity in diversity” group.
The same delegates also claimed that ANC deputy chairman Abe Bekeer was the main challenger to Fransman’s provincial chairmanship. But when asked for comment, Bekeer said he was not aware of this.
“People within the ANC have a democratic right to nominate whomever they choose,” he said.
The Overberg region was the first of the ANC’s six regions in the Western Cape to hold its regional conference - in Hermanus on March 21. But the conference was marred when members claimed the provincial executive committee (PEC) failed to rectify unconstitutional matters raised by branches, as instructed by the national working committee during a visit to the region.
In a letter to ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, disgruntled Overberg members claimed the regional conference continued without a national executive committee deployee present to oversee the conference and without the treasurer’s report on the region’s finances.
“No credentials committee was constituted and therefore conference credentials were not adopted. The manner in which the administration was handled opens up the processes to be manipulated to serve selfish and corrupt agendas,” the members wrote in their letter to Mantashe.
Urging “urgent intervention” from national headquarters “to investigate and rectify”, members claimed the current PEC was trying to suppress their opposition and rig conferences to tip the scale of support in their favour.
Mjongile confirmed that the disputes were lodged by conference delegates, and said the reports from the two conferences had been noted.
“Any ANC member who feels there are issues they would like to raise about a conference, including disputes, are allowed to do so. It is part of the organisational constitution, and obviously those disputes will be tested and attended too. We can’t deny members the right to raise issues about conferences,” he said.
Other members complained that the conference was divided along racial lines and factions. “Delegates raised constitutional matters and were suppressed by the PEC deployee, while the credentials committee was non-existent and no credentials were adopted,” a party source said.
Some delegates reportedly left the conference venue and sat outside until the conference was concluded. “After these delegates left, the process was rushed to be completed,” one delegate said.
Similar scenes played out in the Central Karoo this past weekend, with delegates claiming their long-awaited conference was disastrous and plagued with infighting and collusion between members of the provincial executive and the regional leadership.
Disgruntled conference delegates accused the region’s leadership of abusing their powers and misleading the provincial dispute committee.
The conference started at 9am and finished after midnight without the disputes being resolved.
“We will not recognise the leadership that was elected. If this is the route the ANC is taking most of us will not be part of it. People cannot get away with stealing conferences,” said a delegate.
Delegates said that at one stage the police were called in after the conference turned rowdy.
Among the complaints lodged by members was that some branches launched in the region were unconstitutional; illegitimate delegates were being allowed to vote; poor handling of disputes by the provincial dispute committee; and failure to give branches an opportunity to make representations on the verified membership lists.
Delegates also complained that the ruling by the secretary-general of the party, that the regional chairman and the treasurer should form part of the conference delegates, had been undermined, rejected and ignored.
“It’s all about jobs for pals.
“We don’t have to vote in conference because everything is already pre-ordained. People have serious concerns about how the conference has been conducted,” a delegate said.
Another delegate added: “It is unfortunate that these kind of events and activities happen for the sole reason of wanting to cling to power for selfish personal gains.”
An ANC member in the Karoo said they would not support those elected at the conference.
Members from both regions told the Cape Argus they believed their conferences needed to be run again and disputes needed to be settled.
Mjongile said the PEC would first deal with the disputes and then submit a report to Mantashe’s office.
“It is unfortunate that comrades decide to leak their dispute even before the organisation has had an opportunity to deal with it,” he added.
At the time of going to press, Mantashe’s office could not confirm receipt of the complaints.
Cape Argus