The ANC in Limpopo, which earlier in 2022 led the charge for Cyril Ramaphosa’s election for a second term as party president, is expected to re-elect Stan Mathabatha to the position of provincial chair.
Ahead of the provincial conference, Business Day spoke to various leaders in four of the five regions — Vhembe, Sekhukhune, Peter Mokaba and the Waterberg region — who plan to lobby their branch members to throw their weight behind Mathabatha at this weekend's conference.
The Norman Mashabane regional spokesperson, Peter Ngobeni, told Business Day they are supporting MEC Dickson Masemola and are running on a ticket of ridding the province of corruption. Early in February at its regional conference, they endorsed Mopani district municipality’s Pule Shayi as either chair or secretary of the province. The region now wants Shayi to be the deputy chair.
In ANC tradition, whoever becomes provincial party chair becomes a front-runner for the premier’s position. However, it is unlikely to occur in Limpopo should Mathabatha be re-elected as chair for a third term. He will be ineligible for the government job as he has already served two terms as premier.
“There is nothing in the ANC constitution that prevents a person from running for a third term.... Nominations come from branches,” Mathabatha said during a media briefing on Thursday.
One insider from Mathabatha’s camp said there was a “bigger picture”. He said Mathabatha was likely to use his win as Limpopo chair to bolster his bid to replace the ANC’s national chair, Gwede Mantashe, when the party heads to its conference in December.
“Mathabatha will use his support in Limpopo as leverage for the national chair position. If that doesn’t work, he will lobby for an NEC position and a ministerial post,” the Limpopo insider said.
Limpopo is now the second-largest ANC province, after KwaZulu-Natal, and is expected to be one of the kingmakers at the party’s national conference.
The Limpopo premier’s endorsement of Ramaphosa at the party’s birthday celebrations in January elicited a strong rebuke by other provincial leaders, who at the time said Mathabatha was speaking in his personal capacity.
However, it is expected that the province will rubber stamp Ramaphosa’s re-election bid when it heads to its elective conference this weekend, with a senior PEC member telling Business Day that “there is no credible person that can contest the president”.
This will give a boost to Ramaphosa’s campaign towards the party’s national conference in December, having already been endorsed by Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape and the Northern Cape, which have all held their conferences.
Mathabatha’s slate, dubbed “third term”, includes Florence Radzilani as deputy chair and Nakedi Sibanda-Kekana for provincial treasurer. Both have been implicated in the VBS Mutual Bank scandal, which saw more than R2bn from the Limpopo-based bank looted.
Should the province be successful in lobbying for Mathabatha as national chair, it would pave the way for Radzilani, who hails from the Vhembe region, to take over as the provincial chair. Vhembe is the largest region in the province with more than 220 branches represented at this weekend’s conference.
Other names on the slate are co-operative governance & traditional affairs MEC Basikopo Makamu for deputy secretary, and premier’s ally and outgoing treasurer, Danny Msiza, who is nominated to replace current provincial secretary, Soviet Lekganyane.
Msiza’s bid to remain in the provincial top five was, however, dented last month when the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) resolved to bar members who have been asked to step aside from contesting for leadership positions. Msiza has also been implicated in the VBS scandal, charged with racketeering, theft, fraud and money laundering.
This decision by the NEC came after double-murder accused Mandla Msibi was elected as treasurer in Mpumalanga and Zandile Gumede, who is facing corruption charges, was elected chair of the influential eThekwini region.
The election of Msibi and Gumede proved to be a PR nightmare for the ANC, which is on a drive to repair the party’s corruption-tainted public image, prompting the NEC to amend the step-aside resolution, in May.
Msiza’s name has been replaced by his protégé, Reuben Madadzhe.
Lekganyane confirmed that he would stand for re-election if nominated at the conference. His name is included on Masemola’s slate, called “focus”. Other candidates on this slate include Faith Chauke as treasurer and Livhuwani Legaraba as deputy secretary.
The three-day conference, starting on Friday, will take place despite threats of an interdict by the Peter Mokaba region, which says its branch general meeting disputes have not been resolved ahead of the conference.
About 1,100 delegates are expected at the conference; however, “some branches may not be voting delegates”, he says.
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