The ANC’s top brass is set to meet on Friday to decide who will run the party’s machinery and how the nomination process will unfold before an internal leadership election set down for December 16.
Concern about ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile holding three of the top six positions before the December conference is again expected to be placed on the table when the national executive committee (NEC) meets.
The bone of contention is that Mashatile will present two reports — the organisational and financial reports — at the party’s conference in December. His opponents in the party also claim he is using the three positions he is holding to campaign for the more senior position of deputy president, now held by David Mabuza.
“We appreciate comrade Paul but the power he has is too much. We felt it here, other provinces felt it also,” a source high up in the KwaZulu-Natal province who declined to be named said.
“He could contest the president and win, that is the truth. He pushed so many out (through the ANC’s step-aside rule),” the provincial leader said.
Mashatile is holding the fort for suspended secretary-general (SG) Ace Magashule and serving in the post of the late deputy secretary-general Jesse Duarte. He is responsible for ensuring that the party’s expected 4,000 delegates qualify to elect new leaders at the national conference, raising concern about his influence over the election process.
Mabuza has not publicly put his hand up for a second term.
Hopefuls who have put up their names for the deputy president position include justice minister Ronald Lamola, human settlements minister Mmamoloko Kubayi and Eastern Cape premier and provincial chair Oscar Mabuyane.
Limpopo province’s leadership backs Mashatile for deputy president. Limpopo has the second-largest number of party members. The election of Nono Maloyi, a Mashatile ally and North West chair, is expected to boost his chances to take the party’s second-highest post.
Business Day spoke to national and provincial ANC leaders. A concern raised by Mashatile detractors is that he has been negligent of his primary role, which is to manage the ANC’s finances and raise funds for the party.
“His deployments of NEC members to conferences and ANC events have been selective,” said one of Mashatile’s detractors in the NEC who said there was a push to replace Mashatile with the co-ordinator in the secretary-general’s office, Gwen Ramokgopa.
The move to remove Mashatile from two of the three positions is, however, not on the agenda for the NEC meeting. Any bid to remove him is expected to be foiled, says an NEC member in Mashatile’s camp. “This is going to be a focused meeting on the matters of the conference.”
Seven of the nine provinces have held their conferences. The Western Cape and Free State must still convene.
“The influence of the SG is almost ceremonial, I don’t believe a big impact can be made in the time that’s left,” said an ANC staffer.
Another NEC member sympathetic to Mashatile said that only the NEC could address the issue as it was the council that decided his year to give him the two additional positions.
“It is simple, if delivering two reports is the actual issue, then someone else in the top six must deliver the organisational report,” said an ANC NEC member who declined to be named.
That source said that “no-one raised their hand to do the work” before now, but the complaint against Mashatile was fuelled by those “panicking about whether they would get positions” in the ANC NEC and thus become eligible for a cabinet posting.
Mashatile was unavailable to comment.
The party pushed back the start of its nomination process, due to begin on Wednesday, by a week. This move is expected to have a bearing on the timeline of the process set by the electoral committee, headed by former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, which has set October 15 as the date by which all nominations for the top six and the 80-member NEC to be consolidated.
Updated: September 9 2022
This story has been updated with another quote from a KwaZulu-Natal provincial party leader
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