Subsequently elected, what are the immediate tasks that should be attended to as a matter of urgency in order to unite the warring ANC factions in Mpumalanga? asks Benzi Ka-Soko
The ANC Mpumalanga Provincial Conference finally took place from 1 to 3 2022 at Witbank Dam under very precarious political conditions underlined by the demon of factionalism.
Two fiercely and diametrically opposed lobbying groups called Focus and Ngqi led by Mandla Ndlovu and Lucky Ndinisa respectively evidently divided the party.
The aggressive negative campaigning and lobbying that characterized the Mpumalanga Conference is a precursor to what is going to happen within the ANC structures in the run-up to the National Elective Conference that will take place in December 2022 which will pit supporters of President Ramaphosa against the RET forces associated with suspended Secretary General Ace Magashule.
As expected, Mandla Ndlovu eventually emerged as the winner in the race for the position of the Provincial Chairperson.
He made a clean sweep with his top five Provincial Executive Committee consisting of Deputy Chairperson Speedy Mashilo, Secretary Muzi Chirwa, Deputy Secretary Lindiwe Ntshalintshali and controversially, Treasurer Mandla Msibi, who is facing the Step-Aside Rule.
Msibi is out of bail for a double murder emanating from a shooting in a Shisanyama.
He denies the charges and insists they are politically motivated.
But really, why elect someone in the first place who is facing serious criminal charges?
Why wait for a crime accused person to be elected and then implement the Step-Aside Rule, considering that in the past it has caused serious political divisions within the ANC?
The Step-Aside Rule has so far claimed the scalps of some ANC leaders, chief among them, is suspended Secretary-General Ace Magashule.
The deputy chairperson of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, Mike Mabuyakhulu, was also elected before he stepped aside.
In his attempt to deal with the issue, President Cyril Ramaphosa mentioned that members must reflect on the Step-Aside rule.
Why reflect on it instead of implementing it as it has already happened with other leaders?
Is this not double-speak or outright hypocrisy?
It should be mentioned that this newly elected leadership takes over the political management of a highly divided organization in the Mpumalanga province as vividly exposed before the conference and during the conference.
The deep-seated nature of factionalism and divisions was confirmed by President Ramaphosa when delivering his Closing Remarks by saying the Mpumalanga province was a house on fire.
This statement was strikingly ironic considering the fact that January Che Masilela House was literally set on fire in the previous weeks by someone who was obviously disgruntled with the leadership.
He specifically mentioned that the newly elected leadership should unite all ANC members in the Mpumalanga province in line with the dictates of the renewal project.
The new leadership has a mammoth task of uniting members and rebuilding the organization amid the demon of factionalism rearing its ugly head.
The million-dollar question is as follows:
Is this leadership able to execute this political assignment, can this leadership rise above pettiness and unite all the warring factions, but more critically, are the other lobbying groups prepared to bow before this leadership and toe the political line so as to make the centre hold?
These are difficult questions that the new leadership should grapple with as they begin their journey of leading this obviously divided province.
First and foremost, the leadership should ensure that all the pre-conference lobbying groups are immediately disbanded in order to establish one political centre.
They should lead by example and initiate the process of disbanding their own lobbying group focus in order to send a clear message to other lobbying groups.
Second, the other lobbying groups should be prepared to disband and accept the new leadership as the new legitimate political authority.
Furthermore, the other lobbying groups should follow suit and disband overtly in the glare of the public and in accordance with the political directives from the Provincial Executive Committee.
Third, the new leadership should refrain from any temptation of purging those that are deployed in government in order to assert their political power; for doing so will further sharpen contradictions and strain relations.
Very importantly, deployment should be handled with the utmost care, sensitivity and high-level wisdom in order to avoid ruffling feathers thereby resurrecting the demon of factionalism.
It is commonly known that the conflicts among ANC members are caused by squabbles for power and access to resources which President Ramaphosa has openly admitted in his speech.
These critical matters should be carefully navigated taking into cognizance the fact that there are regional conferences that are still outstanding in certain regions such as the Gert Sibande region whose conference will definitely be highly contested.
Controversially, Mandla Ndlovu has ignited the succession debate when he reiterated his statement that if branches were to call President Ramaphosa for the second term, he should accept the call.
This is the same statement that caused a political rift between Ndlovu and Ntshalintshali wherein the latter came out guns blazing lambasting the former for disrespecting ANC branches.
It is an open secret that Ntshalintshali is associated with the RET forces which are diametrically opposed to the CR forces which are currently in control of the government machinery.
Which begs the question: Is this new leadership in Mpumalanga especially the top five ideologically homogeneous or there are underlying ideological differences that will end up in implosion.
If Mpumalanga province is an NDZ province as openly purported by Lindiwe Ntshalintshali, it would be very interesting as to what is the ideological stance of the other members of the newly elected top five and the entire Provincial Executive Committee respectively.
It should be remembered that Lindiwe Sisulu sparked the succession debate when she penned an opinion piece through which the proverbial waters were muddied and ANC members began running helter-skelter with the succession debate widely open.
In fact, it was during the ANC January Celebration in Limpopo that the Succession Debate was opened when some ANC Regions and Provincial Chairperson Stan Chupu Mathabatha openly endorsed President Ramaphosa for a second term.
The ANC National Executive Committee should have called out Mathabatha and his brigades for opening the succession debate before any formal pronouncements to this effect but they did not.
The NECs inaction and omission literally opened the floodgates.
The ANC Succession Debate is now in motion and the 2022 National Elective Conference will unleash spectacles never seen before in ANC history making the Polokwane and Nasrec Conferences primary school picnics.
Undoubtedly, the period leading to the ANC December 2022 National Elective Conference will be riddled with aggressive and vehement political lobbying and maneuverings from all fronts with the use of money taking the centre stage.
This political spectacle has already started with the Provincial Conferences, Regional Conferences that are supposed to convene and the ANC Youth League National Elective Conference in the middle of the year.
It is now an open secret that the use of money in ANC Conferences has become an accepted vice despite the fact that this conduct has been labelled as against the ethics, morals and values of the organisation.
Media reports have estimated that both the CR 17 and NDZ Election Campaigns were estimated at hundreds of millions to billions of rand used during the Nasrec Conference.
The exact figures remain unverified in the realm of speculation due to the veil of secrecy around this particular issue with the NDZ Brigade deciding to keep mum while the CR 17 crew relying on sealing the bank accounts.
The prevailing differences within the ANC across the board are caused by power-mongering and jostling for positions which are heightened and escalated in the run-up to conferences in all spheres local, provincial and national.
It should be mentioned that political contestation is not necessarily wrong but unfortunately ANC members internalize and personalise the contestation process.
The internalisation and personalisation of political contestation result in the straining of relations among ANC members with catastrophic repercussions.
It remains to be seen if the victorious newly elected leadership will extend the olive branch to the defeated leaders and their supporters to join in the unity and renewal project in order to rebuild and strengthen the ANC in line with the 2032 vision.
The ANC in the Mpumalanga province is facing the difficult task of uniting members and leaders whose differences are deeply entrenched emanating from the era of DD Mabuza as Provincial Chairperson and Premier respectively.
*Benzi Ka-Soko is an Independent Political Analyst and Writer.
The views expressed by the author of this article are not necessarily those of The Bulrushes.
