The ANC has resolved to keep regional and provincial leaders at bay in the process of nominating leaders before the party’s elective conference in December to stop them possibly manipulating the outcome.
The party’s national executive committee (NEC) has decided to consolidate branch nominations nationally and not at regional and provincial levels as was previously the case.
A statement after an NEC lekgotla‚ read out by secretary-general Gwede Mantashe on Monday‚ said ANC branches could nominate candidates for leadership uninhibitedly.
The move is also intended as a measure against slate politics‚ where processes of the party are undermined to deliver a manufactured leadership outcome.
Regional and provincial leaders would effectively be reduced to mere observers of the nomination process.
In line with the 2016 [national general council] resolution that the branch is the basic unit of the ANC‚ that slates must be outlawed and that serious action must be taken to prevent and deal with the practice of slates‚ the NEC resolved to do away with the practice of consolidating nominations for leadership at regional and provincial level. All branch nominations for leadership would be consolidated nationally by the electoral commission‚ said Mantashe.
"Regions and provinces can observe. The reason we are taking this route is because if we don’t do this we are going to have nominations driven by slates."
Mantashe said that completed branch nominations would be sealed and consolidated at a "central point".
The decision by the NEC comes in the wake of the rise of a formidable faction known as the Premier League — consisting of North West’s Supra Mahumapelo‚ David Mabuza of Mpumalanga and Ace Magashule of Free State.
They are backed up the ANC Youth League and the ANC Women’s League who want outgoing African Union Commission chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as the ANC’s next president.
Opposing them is a faction that wants Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed President Jacob Zuma in December.
Ramaphosa is backed by labour federation Cosatu‚ although its members can propel him to the ANC presidency only by using their party membership.
Mantashe dismissed the names being bandied about in relation to the party’s succession race as mere products of speculation. He said they would become official contenders only if nominated by ANC branches.
TMG Digital
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