ANC presidential candidate Zweli Mkhize is expected to intensify his campaign after recent rallies saw him endorsed by party members in Mangaung and Soweto.
Mkhize and incumbent Cyril Ramaphosa are the front runners in what is expected to be a close race when delegates gather for the party’s elective conference at Nasrec on Friday.
ANC sources said that when the nominations list was announced by the head of the party’s electoral committee, Kgalema Motlanthe, last month, it appeared that Ramaphosa was leading the process with 2 037 branch nominations with Mkhize garnering 916 nominations, but the Phala Phala scandal would mean this was now a misleading tally.
A section 89 independent panel report handed to Parliament Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula last month found that there was prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa violated the Constitution by keeping large sums of foreign currency on his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo and trying to conceal the theft.
“Regardless of what the NEC (national executive committee) and NWC (national working committee) say about the panel report, delegates are mindful of the reputational damage done to the party. The matter may be on judicial review and the Parliament impeachment committee may be an obstacle that will be cleared, but delegates are extremely powerful at the conference and they will have the final say.”
Siphiwe Blose, a member of the ANC’s eThekwini regional executive committee and a key supporter of Mkhize said the former health minister’s campaign was gaining significant traction and that he had a foothold in all provinces.
Blose said Mkhize would not be affected by the Digital Vibes matter, saying that Mkhize was cleared by Parliament whereas Ramaphosa was facing scrutiny in Parliament over the Phala Phala matter.
He pointed out that their campaign had not focused on the early nominations as it would not determine the outcomes at the elective conference. “If we look at it holistically, there were 1 129 nominations that were not factored in.
“Those will make a difference at the conference,” said Blose.
He said that Mkhize’s campaign was now in the final stretch as discussions were taking place between him and ANC structures and not individuals.
He said issues looking at rules and policies of the party, including the step-aside resolution would be debated on the first day of the conference. An Mkhize lobbyist said the notion that Mkhize only had support in KwaZulu-Natal had been dispelled.
“We are expecting Gauteng to give him 50% support, Free State 50%, the Eastern Cape not too far behind that and in Mpumalanga, North West and the Northern Cape between 25% and 40%.
“With the backing of KZN this is a huge amount of votes and we are confident that he leads with votes going into the conference,” said the source.
Mkhize on Monday criticised the party’s step-aside rule as well as the nomination regulations for NEC membership set by the organisation’s elections committee headed by Motlanthe, while addressing ANC branches in Soweto, saying its adoption undermined ANC branches’ authority on the matter.
Mkhize said he would vociferously raise the issue at the elective conference and he believed the step-aside rule as well as nomination rules for the NEC were made to deal with opponents of the faction currently in control.
“When the conference opens, the closed session will start by discussing constitutional changes and discussing all the rules and regulations that have affected the nomination of members of the NEC. A lot of those regulations have got challenges,” he said.
“We are all crying foul of the step-aside rule. Any so-called rule that is used to purge some and protect others is not a good rule at all.
“We also cannot have nomination rules that are changed as we go along, regulations that did not even have the input of branches. Normally, the conference is the one that makes amendments to regulations, it is checked with the branches and if they are all accurate and then they are implemented.
“In some cases the regulations come out, we thought we all agreed at NEC and understand it but depending on the political climate, it is hurriedly changed to say ‘here is the most updated rule’. You do not run an organisation like that.”