Justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola’s ambitions of becoming ANC deputy president received a shot in the arm after Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi was elected ANC provincial chair, beating his rival Lebogang Maile with 574 votes to 543.
Lesufi is likely to become the next Gauteng premier and take charge of SA’s economic powerhouse, which contributes about 35% to GDP.
Gauteng premier David Makhura, whose term of office as ANC provincial chair expired at the weekend, told Business Day recently that he would make way for whoever was elected so they could prepare for the 2024 national election
Lesufi and Maile were said to be keen on supporting President Cyril Ramaphosa’s re-election as ANC leader at the party’s national election in December. Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Northern Cape have indicated their support for Ramaphosa’s re-election at their respective conferences. Maile is said to be rooting for Mashatile to become the deputy president of the party, while Lesufi is said to fancy Lamola for the same post.
Maile has told Business Day of his support for Mashatile. But Lesufi has not confirmed his support for Lamola, and did not respond to a request for comment.
The provincial elective conference results were announced in the early hours of Monday at the congress. The elected top five leadership included Lesufi as chair, Nomantu Nkomo Ralehoko (deputy chair), TK Nciza (secretary), Tasneem Motara (deputy secretary) and Morakane Mosupyoe (treasurer), making Gauteng the first province to have three women in its leadership.
At 1.12am on Monday, Maile tweeted: “Congratulations [comrade] Panyaza Lesufi on your election as a provincial chair of Gauteng, all the best my brother. You ran a clean campaign befitting of a leader of our movement. We all rally behind the elected leadership as [we] work towards ANC victory in 2024!”
Lesufi responded to the tweet, saying: “We are together forever my [comrade] Lebogang Maile. Let’s carry this task together.”
The Gauteng provincial congress was delayed for hours due to the issue of credentials, which is a list of all the delegates attending the conference, including voting delegates. The report was scheduled to be adopted on Saturday according to the programme, but ended up being passed just after 6am on Sunday.
High court
There was heavy security at the conference venue in Benoni, east of Johannesburg, with police officers from different units, including the bomb squad, screening vehicles and delegates.
Disgruntled ANC Ekurhuleni member Jabulani Sithole took the party to the Gauteng high court on Saturday evening on an urgent basis, to effectively stop the conference from going ahead. Sithole wanted the ANC’s provincial executive committee first to rule on matters related to the outcome of the Ekurhuleni regional conference, in which five branches were disqualified and their 19 votes set aside.
The 19 votes could have made a material difference to the outcome of the regional structure. Former executive mayor Mzwandile Masina defeated Doctor Xhakaza by 163 votes to 151.
Judge Motsamai Makume struck the matter off the court roll, paving the way for the elective congress to continue.
ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe said: “At the end of this conference we [will] collapse all the lobby groups. There must be one lobby group and that lobby must be the ANC, which is going to lead the charge towards making sure that the ANC in Gauteng emerges victorious in 2024.”
This is not the first time the two have contested leadership positions within the party. In 2018 Lesufi pipped co-operative governance MEC Maile to the post by a narrow margin as the two fought for the deputy chair position.
The ANC’s electoral support has been declining in the province over the years, to 36.06% during the 2021 municipal elections, from 45.84% and 59.66% during the 2016 and 2011 municipal elections respectively.
On Friday, outgoing Gauteng premier Makhura told the conference the ANC is a “self-absorbed organisation” that is at war with itself.
He said the party focuses on things that do not matter. “These are fundamental issues we must confront. We must not lie to ourselves. We disappointed people, the core base of the ANC, the people in our townships,” he said.
His views echoed those of the party’s national chair, mineral resources & energy minister Gwede Mantashe, who told delegates attending the organisation’s Eastern Cape conference in May that the governing party had become “arrogant”, “out of touch with society”, and dogged by a “trust deficit”.
“We don’t agree with those who think the ANC is finished. Even with all the things we have said, this conference is a conference of renewal. It’s a conference about regaining and repositioning the organisation to connect with its support base,” Makhura said.
Update: June 27 2022
This story has been updated with new information.
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