Cape Town - Leaders of the ANC in the Western Cape could be stripped of their powers as they have all but exhausted the patience of the party’s national leadership.
Accusations of factionalism, ineffectual organisation and clashes with the party’s national executive have seen the local ANC leaders fall out of favour with the national top brass, party insiders have confirmed.
In interviews with Weekend Argus, ANC sources who did not want to be named said the party’s provincial executive committee (PEC) had “been given nine lives” but their time was nearing an end.
Weekend Argus can confirm these sources have close links to ANC MPs and national executive committee (NEC) members.
The PEC comprises 28 members and is led by provincial chairman Marius Fransman and secretary Songezo Mjongile, who dismissed as “rumours” the claims that national leadership had lost faith in them.
The ANC sources said there were several reasons for the PEC falling from favour – including its lacklustre organisation ahead of the party’s 103rd anniversary rally at Cape Town Stadium last weekend, its attitude towards the popular social movement Ses’khona and its failure to build the ANC beyond narrow populist activities.
A source said: “NEC members in the province (for the anniversary) had a terrible experience. They were left alone to do the mobilisation. They discovered there were no branches in the province.
“The ANC has no presence. The rally was saved by thousands of people bused in from the Eastern Cape, another huge bus of people from the Northern Cape and Free State.”
Mjongile refuted this allegation, saying the “facts speak for themselves”.
“We had 563 buses from across the province, but predominantly Cape Town. Cape Town delivered 80% of the people at the anniversary. Trains were packed. “There is nothing unique about the rally having people coming from other (parts of) the country. It happens like that every year. It is a national event.”
The source said the NEC was considering disbanding the PEC but a decision had not yet been taken. New PEC leaders are up for election at the provincial conference in March.
“The crisis of leadership in the province was evident. Having gone through that experience, the NEC will discuss what needs to be done,” said the source.
“This is not a new situation. In a way, people haven’t realised the extent of the crisis.”
Mjongile said: “These rumours have been going around since we have been appointed in 2011. “We will not entertain such rumours.”
He said the sources must be “sympathisers with the DA”.
“There are those who have always been wishing that this leadership would fail. Unfortunately those doomsayers have failed. No amount of factionalism is going to succeed.
“We are working very hard to open up the ANC for everyone to participate. There will be lobby groups for other leaders.”
Another matter that divides the PEC and NEC is the party’s stance towards the social movement Ses’khona, according to two sources. There have been public spats between Mjongile and Ses’khona leader Andile Lili, also an ANC member.
Lili last year accused Mjongile of being behind a shooting that left him hospitalised. At the time ANC NEC member Mcebisi Skwatsha showed support for Ses’khona when he and Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation Pamela Tshwete visited Lili in hospital.
A second ANC source told Weekend Argus the “PEC is being forced to engage and tolerate Ses’khona” due to the NEC’s support for it.
“The NEC is taking an inclusive approach to Ses’khona but the PEC wants to ignore them. We can’t ignore them when it comes to provincial elections. It doesn’t make sense to have a negative approach to them,” said the source.
The source said the ANC’s top leaders met Ses’khona before the rally “twice and pleaded with them to assist with the rally” to ensure locals attend.
NEC member MP Jeff Radebe was vocal at a packed rally in Crossroads regarding the mother body’s support for Ses’khona after he had met them before the rally.
The ANC views Ses’khona as an ally, as it is believed to have 87 000 members who could vote for the party, given that its leaders belong to the party.
The ANC’s provincial leaders expelled Lili and his Ses’khona co-founder Loyiso Nkohla from the party, but they were later readmitted.
The source said: “We need to focus on our strengths. Having people singing and dance at a stadium won’t win votes. To see coloured voters as klopse or gangsters is wrong and won’t win any majority.”
ANC national spokesman Zizi Kodwa said the party would “not respond to ‘sources”.
Weekend Argus