The nomination of candidates for leadership positions in the African National Congress’s (ANC) eThekwini region is finally underway at the elective conference after being delayed by almost a day.
Delegates finally agreed that the regional task team will not be voting. The nomination and the election of leadership was supposed to happen on Saturday night, but it was delayed due to disagreements among delegates.
ANC national Spokesperson, Pule Mabe, has explained why the eThekwini regional task team was not allowed to vote during the elective conference.
“In an event where the RTT established would have been constituted by members of the ANC in that specific region, that RTT would have full powers to vote. But the practice in KZN has been that people who are brought in to lead these RTT could be people who come or reside outside that region. So what it means is that they do not meet a minimum threshold to constitute a delegation in that specific region. So a minimum threshold of you to constitute a delegate in a region is that you must be a member in good standing in that specific region,”says Mabe.
Second day of ANC’s Ethekwini regional conference
In a closely contested leadership race, representatives of the two slates monitored the verification of each delegate to establish if they are allowed to vote. eThekwini is the ANC’s biggest region in the province. The two slates are led by former mayor Zandile Gumede and Thabani Nyawose.
Conference convener, Kwazi Mshengu says KwaZulu-Natal has decided that task teams won’t vote, but an objection has now been raised.
It is the case in Mpumalanga province.
“As we are about to start we should be able to open for a short period for further discussions and clarities and we think we will be able to prevail on the conference. Ultimately, it must be the people of this region who are to benefit from the conference. So we can’t allow it to collapse. We will be pleading to the conscience of cadres to say, now at some point, they must lose themselves for the organisation to exist. That’s the point we are in now, but we think we will be able to complete at least half the business of the conference, which will include voting,” says Mshengu.
Update on the second day of ANC’s eThekwini regional conference
Mshengu says going forward, the ANC’s National Executive Committee should take a decision on whether members of task teams leading regions after the term of office has expired, should be allowed to vote in elective conferences.
“We are worried it’s going to make the ANC appear like a federal organisation because there’s no national decision. What national must do beyond these conferences is to take a clear-cut decision from now henceforth that task teams are voting or they are not voting. What cannot happen is that KZN be bound by a decision by Mpumalanga,” says Mshengu.
Political analyst Xolani Dube on ANC’s eThekwini regional conference
