Re kitima le yona!!! AFRICAN National Congress (ANC) branches in Gauteng have rejected President Jacob Zuma’s ally, Nomvula Mokonyane, as their preferred candidate for premier, potentially dealing a blow to the Zuma camp’s hopes of gaining control of South Africa’s richest province. According to draft provincial consolidated lists released ahead of the party’s Gauteng list conference on Thursday, members opted for ANC secretary David Makhura to take over from Ms Mokonyane after next year’s polls. In spite of Ms Mokonyane having been appointed premier in 2009, the ANC in Gauteng swam against the tide by insisting on electing Paul Mashatile as provincial chairman at the party’s 2010 internal elections. This created an uncomfortable two centres of power in the province. Ms Mokonyane reportedly has indicated that she is willing to run the province for a second term after the 2014 polls. Gauteng has emerged as a key battleground between opposition parties, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) having launched a noisy takeover campaign. However, the contest within the governing party is also hotting up. The stakes are high as the Gauteng ANC also heads to a provincial elective conference shortly after the election. A strong push to eliminate the two centres of power in the province — to ensure that the premier and the ANC chair are the same person — is emerging. Whoever is appointed premier would be a likely candidate to be elected leader of the ANC in Gauteng at the party’s elective conference after the national polls. The protests in Bekkersdal on the West Rand last week have proved a key battleground for premier hopefuls. Ms Mokonyane was not welcomed by residents protesting and looting in the area over service delivery, with reports saying that they hurled bricks at a church in which she was addressing community members. The alliance in the province, including the ANC, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, was better received, and had upstaged Ms Mokonyane by striking a deal with residents to restore calm. A leader who wished to remain anonymous on Thursday said the issue of the two centres of power had been tested in Bekkersdal and had proven a failure. The SACP has publicly called for an end to the two centres of power in Gauteng. Another source, also aligned to the camp supporting Mr Zuma in the province, said Ms Mokonyane had not been successful in uniting supporters in the province. Ms Mokonyane is in 21st position on the draft candidate list. Even so, she cannot be written off in the race as the ANC’s national executive has the final say in selecting the premier. Mr Makhura, Mr Mashatile and former ANC Youth League leader and provincial sport MEC Lebogang Maile were the first three names on the list. An election was being held on the draft lists on Thursday night, where the final candidates for the province would emerge. These will be sent to the national list committee, which will screen them to ensure they meet the party’s criteria. The ANC at provincial level will submit the top three people elected at its list conference to the national leadership, which will then decide on a premier. University of Cape Town political analyst Anthony Butler on Thursday said the ANC provincial party structures had a very strong influence, largely a determining influence over selecting candidates for the provincial legislature. However, the gender argument could be used to select a candidate outside of the three names preferred by ANC branches in the province, particularly where no female candidates were among them. The ANC has a standing resolution on gender parity, where it is preferable that half of the country’s premiers are women. Mr Butler said the selection of candidates was a heated struggle for any political party. It was also not cut and dried, as tradeoffs were made in the process. ANC Gauteng head of communications Nkenke Kekana on Thursday said the party in the province did not want to speculate on the premiership. There is an agreed process in the ANC and at the right time the ANC will deploy whoever the ANC has confidence in to lead the province, he said. The number of candidates selected for the provincial legislatures across the country ranged from 30 to 80, according to the ANC’s list guidelines. The number of candidates who will take up posts depends on the party’s performance in the election. According to the guidelines, the provincial leaderships will make decisions about their legislature lists. However, their decisions remain subject to possible amendment and ratification by the (national executive committee). Mr Zuma and ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa topped the draft list for candidates to Parliament. Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula was in the third slot and former ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe in fourth. Reports last week had indicated that some structures in the provinces were instructed not to nominate Mr Zuma. However, the Gauteng ANC dismissed this as untrue and confirmed that Mr Zuma had topped its list of candidates to Parliament. We are concerned that from time to time there seem to be faceless people that seek to isolate the ANC in Gauteng from its mother body, by spreading rumours and insinuating that we are basically a renegade province, Mr Kekana said.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 06:41:59 +0000
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