Additional reporting SIYABONGA SITHOLE
Former Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina who was provisionally re-elected as ANC chair in Ekurhuleni over the weekend, thanked those who voted for him, saying this came to fruition against all odds.
“Thank you ANC membership for the confidence against all odds. We will continue to serve with humility. Now all roads lead to Gauteng and we are certain Lebogang Maile will emerge to save it ,” Masina said.
ANC steering committee overseeing the party’s Ekurhuleni regional conference and NEC member Mduduzi Manana said they were not worried about potential litigation in connection with the 19 quarantined votes.
“We decided as a steering committee to quarantine those votes, they would be kept in a separate envelope pending a verification process that will be conducted by the national organising team,” Manana said.
ANC Ekurhuleni elective conference saw 19 votes being temporarily set aside.
Preliminary results named Masina as regional chairperson.
The ANC in Ekurhuleni elected new leaders on Sunday. The conference had its fair share of chaos and drama with outstanding disputes for almost two days.
TK Nciza retained the position of secretary, Jongizizwe Dlabathi was elected deputy chairperson, Moipone Mhlongo was elected as deputy secretary while Absolom Budeli was elected treasurer.
The election was not declared yet until five branches’ quarantined votes receive outcomes.
Political analyst Professor Dirk Kotze, commenting on the patterns that have been witnessed in ANC conferences going ahead despite outstanding disputes, said they were not a new thing in the party and had happened in 2017 just before the national conference and recently in KwaZulu-Natal’s eThekwini regional conference.
“This is all about the so called credentials to verify whether the delegates are legit. Five branches in the Ekurhuleni conference were questioned. At the beginning of each conference there is a debate about credentials which takes time. This becomes a power constitution before there are any discussions or any elections,” Kotze said
He said this was connected to the buying of branches.
“Gatekeeping is another aspect that’s being used in order to prevent some people from joining branches so that they can bolster the numbers of supporters from their side from within the different groups and all sorts of other practices of branches, for example the creation of branches that don’t exist,” he said.
Mzwandile Masina, the strong backer of former president Jacob Zuma, was re-elected as ANC Ekurhuleni chairperson.
He received 163 votes while his opponent Doctor Xhakaza received 151 votes.
This is viewed as a boost for what is known as the RET faction. On Friday, the conference was disrupted by delegates and members who claimed they were being excluded from participation in the conference, while some raised concerns over manipulation of membership.
Masina has been re-elected as ANC Ekurhuleni Regional Chairperson in what is said to be a preliminary outcome. This as at least 19 votes from six disputed branches have been quarantined or set aside until their status is resolved by the ANC Dispute Resolution Committee. The rest of the conference results saw 334 voting delegates cast their votes across six branches with Jongizizwe Dlabathi receiving 163 votes for the deputy chairperson position. Thembinkosi TK Nciza walked away with 170 votes for the position of regional secretary position while Moipone Mhlongo, as deputy secretary received 162 to and Sello Skhokho walked away with the region’s treasurer-general position with 167 votes.
The recent acts of ill-discipline at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways where the conference is taking place prompted Gauteng Premier David Makhura to address the conference on Saturday following incidents of violence in the vicinity of the conference. Makhura slammed members and warned them to stop their sense of entitlement when it came to occupying positions within the structures of the movement.
“We must get this thing out of our heads. We are not entitled to leadership positions. We must earn our place in leadership positions out of the work that we do among our communities which is to give services to the people. But also out of the work that we do we must build the type of ANC that makes citizens in our communities proud that this is the ANC they want to identify with,” Makhura said.
He also lambasted members of the party and delegates for bringing guns in the vicinity of the conference adding that the environment was akin to a war zone.
“When you are around here. You can’t tell that this is an ANC conference. It is like a war zone. This makes us ashamed as ANC members. This atmosphere and environment around this venue is like a war zone. I see the sort of thing that is happening around the vicinity of the conference that says to me this is not a conference of the ANC,” the premier added.
Following these delays where chairs and other objects were thrown around, the adoption of credentials only began on Sunday instead of Saturday. These and many other incidents have marred the ANC regional conference with similar incidents reported at the ANC Youth League Elective Conference which took place two weeks ago.