Mathale supporters snubbed on task team

Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale, right, and ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe at the ANC's Mangaung conference in December. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale, right, and ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe at the ANC's Mangaung conference in December. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

Published Mar 25, 2013

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Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has appointed a Limpopo ANC task team packed with either his loyalists or Premier Cassel Mathale’s known rivals.

The 17-member provincial task team, to be led by former Vhembe municipality mayor Philemon Falaza Mdaka, was announced by ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa after the provincial general council (PGC) held at the University of Limpopo in Polokwane on Sunday.

The team consists of the top five and 12 additional members.

More than half the top five positions are occupied by Zuma’s diehard supporters, in what appears to be the ANC leader’s attempt to ensure the party’s third biggest province by numbers does not fall into the hands of his rivals again.

Mdaka will be deputised by Yvonne Makola, with Joy Matshoge as provincial secretary, Stan Motimele as deputy provincial secretary and Thembi Nwendamusu as treasurer.

Mdaka, Motimele and Matshoge were part of a Zuma-aligned faction, led by Deputy Arts and Culture Minister Joe Phaahla, which failed to unseat Mathale as provincial ANC chairman in December 2011. Mathale beat Phaahla by 82 votes.

Mdaka denied the team had been packed with Zuma loyalists, saying they were ANC members and “not supporters of individuals”.

A Mathale supporter dismissed the team as factional, saying it accommodated only the three factions that united behind Zuma ahead of the Mangaung conference.

One faction is led by Dickson Masemola, the other by confidants of Monitoring and Evaluation Minister Collins Chabane, and the third by supporters of Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and Phaahla.

Limpopo under Mathale, a close ally of expelled ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, was the launching pad of a failed campaign to remove Zuma from power at Mangaung.

Ramaphosa said after the PGC meeting that the team of “capable” people had been mandated to stabilise the province, lead the party to next year’s general election and prepare for an elective conference within nine months.

The briefing was attended by almost all ANC national executive committee deployees to Limpopo, including Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande, Thoko Didiza, Billy Masetlha and ANC Veterans League president Kebby Maphatsoe.

Flanked by ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte and the party’s convener of NEC deployees to Limpopo, Ruth Bhengu, Ramaphosa said the team had the necessary skills and experience to restore the image of the ANC.

“These comrades are seasoned comrades, they are well experienced. We chose people who have a good mixture of skills, and currently a number of them are deployed in various institutions such as Parliament and the municipalities.”

Ramaphosa added that the team’s task was to “bring stability to this province, unite this province, prepare this province for next year’s general election and ensure the ANC gets a resounding victory”.

Other members of the team included Alec Nchabeleng, Elda Losiba, Sentle Fanyane, Sello Lediga, Emma Ndlovu, Silence Makhubele, Mike Makhura, Miriam Ramadwa, Danny Msiza, Ndumiso Matlala, Faith Mthambi and Rosina Mokgotlane.

Lediga, Ramadwa and Makhubela previously campaigned against Mathale. The rest are also not sympathetic to Mathale and his disbanded provincial executive.

A Mathale supporter complained that the premier’s supporters had been excluded.

“All factions are covered in that except Cassel’s faction,” he said.

Mathale and former provincial secretary Soviet Lekganyane had pledged to work with the task team and campaign for an ANC victory ahead of next year’s elections, Ramaphosa said.

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