Cape Town - As the DA battles to retain power in strategic metros across the country, their rivals in the Western Cape have their own set of challenges in the lead-up to their election of a new provincial chairperson.
The ANC across the province pushed to have all six of their regions hold their regional conferences by this weekend.
This would have allowed branches to attend a provincial general council (PGC) to elect Marius Fransman’s replacement.
After Fransman was axed, Khaya Magaxa was elected as acting chairperson. But Magaxa wants to vacate the position.
But by the August 31 deadline, only four of the six regions had held successful branch general meetings which led to the election of new regional leadership at conferences.
The new chairpersons are:
Siyabulela Gxabalashe in the West Coast;
Jovan Bruinders in Southern Cape;
Quinton Louw in Central Karoo;
Theo Olivier in the Overberg region.
But these conferences had their own drama, with the Overberg attempting to hold a second conference after its previous conference erupted in chaos last Friday. The West Coast’s conference resulted in a complaint lodged against Councillor Sammy Claassen after he allegedly called the Khoi people dogs.
He faces a disciplinary this week. Now it seems that the province’s two biggest regions, Dullah Omar and Boland, have been left behind. This affects the province’s ability to hold the PGC in the absence of the requirement that 70% of all branches hold successful branch general meetings.
Dullah Omar still hopes to hold its conference today, when current chairperson, Xolani Sotashe, could be re-elected as he is standing unopposed. But this might not happen if ward four in the Joe Slovo area of Milnerton and ward 34 in Philippi fail to hold their meetings.
Meanwhile, Boland has only held three meetings out of its required 67 wards, with no clear indication as to whether it will be able to hold a regional elective conference.
Boland’s chairperson, Pat Marran, said the delay arose because its audit report was only signed by
secretary-general Ace Magashule last week.
“Although there is a cut-off date of August 31, our audit was only signed off last week, so we are busy with a branch general meeting (BGM).
“We are continuing with BGMs, but we are waiting on the office of the SG to see if they will grant us an extension or not. Branches must also nominate delegates for the PGC.”
Provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs said: “Dullah Omar is set for conference (today), and part of our key agenda is to strive for a renewed, stronger and better united region.
“There are some challenges among the branches. There were a few appeals to national and they, therefore, had to re-sit (their BGMs). We will know later about the success of that because it will affect whether we continue with the regional conference or not.
“I can’t speculate on what we will do with Boland and Dullah Omar.
“Our strong focus is ensuring that we get an electoral platform that deals with the service delivery issues of our people,” Jacobs added.
“It is about how we position the ANC to be able to deliver in the Western Cape.
“Given that Boland and Dullah Omar are the biggest areas of branches, we need Boland to increase their numbers.
“Dullah Omar has met their threshold of almost 70%. They are about one or two branches short.
“But because Boland is the second biggest area, you want to give them the opportunity to complete most of their branches,” he said.
Political analyst Wesley Seale said the mere fact that the party was still having issues with branch meetings was problematic.
“So the point still stands, is the ANC an alternative given the fact that it can’t even get branch meetings to quorate? And that is the real challenge.
“The ANC cannot even begin to start thinking about taking over the Western Cape if they are not present in communities through branches,” he said.
“For the ANC in the Western Cape, the problem is a top-down approach where they are appointing Ebrahim Rasool, when in actual fact it should be a bottom-up approach where the work happens in the branches, and no matter who is on top.
“The DA is quick to blame the ANC for all these protests that are happening across communities and in traditional DA areas. The DA says the ANC is running a campaign to make the province ungovernable, but the party is even too weak to do that,” Seale said.