The ANC in the North West is the latest to back President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second term as ANC leader. The party, led by the newly elected chairperson, Nono Maloyi has also endorsed the current Treasurer-General, Paul Mashatile as a preferred deputy president candidate. This comes as branches prepare for the party’s 55th elective conference scheduled to take place in Nasrec, Johannesburg in December.
The North West ANC’s Provincial Secretary Loui Diremelo, said the announcement represents the view of the Provincial Executive Committee and that branches are still coming up with their own preferences. “Our guidance to the branches was that Cyril Ramaphosa is nominated as the President, Paul Mashatile as the Deputy President, Fanuel Masuella to be the Secretary-General, Stan Mathabatha as the National Chairperson, Zweli Mkhize as the Treasurer-General and Nomvula Mokonyane as the Deputy Secretary-General.
“So, 90% of these candidates were suggested by branches because they have a final word on the national conference. This weekend we are going to the national executive meeting and we will have a roadmap,” Diremelo said. He said they were satisfied with the progress of the branches, in terms of preparing for the national conference.
“We are more than ready, and we believe that more than 70% of the branches in the province were successful in their Branch General Meetings (BGM). We will be releasing the statistics of the branches that are ready. “We are just waiting for the verification committee from national to finalize verification to say which branches qualified and which branches did not qualify. And then we will be submitting nominations from the province to the office of Kgalema Motlanthe through our electoral officers in the province,” he said.
According to Diremelo, the province’s nominees will be determined by the provincial council. “From then we will be having our provincial council that will be opening those particular nominations. It will then indicate what the branches’ preferences are. It will be consolidated, I don’t think we will conduct voting again. So we will be consolidating nominations as received from branches. And then we will be taking our delegates to the national conference,” said Diremelo.
He stated that not all branches will make it, to form part of the national conference. “We would have loved that everybody from branches qualifying, which is 361 from the North West or the 403 goes to the national conference. But unfortunately, there will be some branches that will not qualify because they could not form quorums and because of the many challenges in the new system in the ANC,” he said.
About six provinces that include the North West, Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, and Kwa-Zulu Natal support Ramaphosa for a second term as the ruling party’s president. Meanwhile, a political analyst from the North West University, Andre Duvenhage believes Maloyi will only support Ramaphosa on the basis that he accommodates Mashatile.
“To be honest with you, I don’t believe in the integrity of politicians. I have no doubt that Maloyi will go the way of Mashatile and Ramaphosa, on condition that Ramaphhosa accommodates Mashatile. “There is a huge conflict for the position of the deputy president, and we have seen four to five candidates named already. However, I’m not 100% sure if that is an alignment, but is not unqualified alignment,” Duvenhage said.
