There seems to be fractures in the African National Congress (ANC) in the North West province. The party’s Interim Provincial Committee (IPC) says some of its members within the provincial legislature, were in cahoots with opposition parties. The IPC is accusing them of voting with opposition benches during the election of a new Chair of Chairs. The party says members have defied its mandate.
According to reports, five members of the ANC, among them, Premier Job Mokgoro, voted with opposition parties. The Democratic Alliance (DA) nominated the candidate who obtained 15 votes against 14 received by her contender. The winner, Pricilla Williams, contested against former Mahikeng local municipal mayor, Lena Miga.
Miga was a candidate nominated by the caucus of the ANC. But, the DA maintains that Williams was the best candidate. DA Chief Whip in the provincial legislature Freddy Sonakile says they did their own analysis of the chairperson.
“We did our own analysis of the chairpersons that we have in the legislature, then from that analysis we took who might be the best suited candidate that we can vote for, from the pool of those that were there.”
The ruling party in the province says its members violated their constitution.
Spokesperson, Kenny Morolong, says: “We have noted with concern reports that ANC deployees in the North West provincial legislature collaborated with the oppositions to defy the mandate of the organisation. This conduct constitutes gross violation of the ANC constitution. The organisation is seized with the matter and will at an appropriate time express itself with respect to its position and the next course of action.”
Political analysts believe factionalism within provincial ANC members is at the heart of the matter.
“It clearly shows signs that there are factions within the members of the provincial legislature particularly those that are belonging to the ANC, because under normal circumstances the party members who are MPLs should be towing the lines of the ANC,” says Dr Oshupeng Maseng from the North West University’s Mahikeng Campus.
His colleague from the NWU Potchefstroom Campus, Professor Andre Duvenhage, adds: “The ANC as an organisation is an institution without proper discipline and it seems as if it is driven by factions and not by leadership and that is not only in the case on a provincial level, that is the case on national level as well.”
The ANC is believed to be considering summoning those in defiance before its disciplinary committee. A formal pronouncement is expected to be made soon.
