Cape Town - The ANC’s Western Cape executive committee was considering moving a crucial candidate list committee meeting to a secure venue at Parliament on Tuesday, after disgruntled members disrupted the process over the weekend.
The provincial list committee meeting was held at Cosatu House in Salt River on Sunday when more than a 100 ANC members from the Boland, West Coast and metro regions interrupted them. The meeting was set to tie down the party’s list ahead of the August polls before names are passed on to the national list committee.
However, the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) was forced to abandon its meeting as dissatisfied members prevented proceedings from going ahead.
At least six PEC members from across the province confirmed the situation was tense, with members shouting and chanting “Faiez must fall”, in reference to provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs.
Some claimed protesters taunted the leadership, exposing their bums as a sign of disrespect.
The drama unfolded in front of NEC members, including Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and with her husband, ANC MP Mathole Motshekga, and the two caretakers for the province, Sue van der Merwe and Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba.
The protesting members accused the provincial leadership of interfering in the list process.
“Rumours have been doing the rounds that the leadership had chopped and changed names, adding some and pushing others lower down on the lists.
“There are also claims that the top 10 percent of the lists which, according to the ANC’s national candidate guidelines, should be left untouched, had been altered in some regions,” a disgruntled member said.
Branch members from Witzenberg and Drakenstein municipalities were particularly upset over changes made to their lists. It was further alleged the list committees in certain regions recommended changes which exceeded the 15 percent national guideline.
Leaders in the Boland and Dullah Omar regions declined to comment on the allegations that their members had disrupted the meeting, while the West Coast region could not be reached for comment.
The chairman of the Boland region, Pat Marran, said he would not comment on the members’ actions, while Dullah Omar chairman Xolani Sotashe said he could not comment on something he knew nothing about.
Jacobs was also unavailable for comment.
The acting provincial chairman, Khaya Magaxa, downplayed the drama at Cosatu House, saying it was not a disruption, but a lengthy discussion.
However, Magaxa conceded there were some people who were dissatisfied with the list processes.
“We listened to their grievances. It was not a disruption, but they took up a lot of our time. We spent a lot of time listening to their problems and when we were finished with them it was already (too) late to continue,” Magaxa said.
But other senior party members did not view the action in the same light, saying the members should be roped in for behaving badly.
By noon yesterday, some PEC members were informed that the meeting was rescheduled to take place at Parliament today. However, Magaxa denied this, saying the meeting would be rescheduled.
Cape Argus