Shayi defeated former chairperson and MEC for Economic Development,Environment and Tourism, Seaparo Sekoati by 24 votes. He received 155 votes while Sekoati received 131 from the 286 voting delegates at the conference convened under the theme:
“The Year of Oliver Tambo, Let us deepen unity.”
Peter Matlou who is the Mayor of Greater Letaba Municipality was elected as Deputy Secretary and Garrison Molapisane as Treasurer, while Violet Mathye and Basikopo Makamu were retained as Deputy Chairperson and Secretary, respectively.
Many supporters of the ANC had expected the Executive Mayor of Mopani District Municipality Nkakareng Rakgoale to be retained as the treasurer of the region asshe had already garnered enough support from branch nominations, but she declined to stand for that position in favour of Garrison Molapisane who defeated Dikeledi Mmetle, the Speaker of Greater Tzaneen Municipality to that post. The move caught the faction aligned to Seaparo Seakoti off-guard, but also left Maruleng sub-region with no representative in the top five.
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Insiders say the name of Molapisane was “imposed” on delegates at the eleventh hour apparently at the insistence of Makoma Makhurupetje, the MEC for COGHSTA in Limpopo who is said to be having ambitions of being elected ANC provincial chairperson at the conference to be held early next year. Rakgoale who was later elected amongst the additional members withdrew to ‘’save” the campaign, they said.
The run-up to this conference was marred by allegations of membership fraud in the Giyani sub-region which caused the conference to delay by almost 10 months. As many as 21 branches were said to be having fraudulent membership in that sub-region, but only seven were refused participation after failing audit verification conducted by the Office of Secretary General.
Delegates resolved to “strengthen” Political Management Teams in municipalities, a decision which is said to be aimed at removing those that previously enjoyed the support of the ANC’s provincial executive committee even though there were question marks around their competency for those positions.
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While there was no pronouncement at the conference, the newly-elected Regional Executive Committee is said to be supporting Dr.Nkosanzana Dlamini-Zuma, the former chairwoman of the African Union for the position of president when the ANC convenes its national elective conference in December where she expected to come up against the incumbent Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Delivering a resounding acceptance speech, Shayi told delegates that it is too early to make pronouncement on leadership preference. “We can’t make pre-mature announcements on issues of leadership. Let’s engage on policy matters from the recommendations of the policy conference. When we are sure we can then define the leadership that will take that programme forward. Whoever comes up as the leader of the ANC, all of us will support and will go all out and work.”
He also said that the new regional executive committee has a responsibility to unite the ANC in the region, but warned that unity cannot be artificial, saying that “we have learned from our senior leaders before in the ranks when we were coming through that the unity of the ANC can never be mechanical.
“We have learned from our forebears who taught us the literature of the ANC that in uniting our people, but also in processing organizational work, our unity remains organic,” he said.
Shayi labelled MPs who voted with opposition on the motion to remove President Zuma last month as “counter-revolutionaries” and warned ANC councillors against such behaviour. “Voting with the opposition means you are collapsing government. You are putting the ANC out of power.”
He directed branches to go and work on issues of service delivery and working hard to resolve the challenge of water in the region.
“When our communities rise, let’s ensure that together working with them in the context of our character as a national liberation movement, we lead those particular struggles.”
The following additional members were elected to serve on the regional executive committee
Eric Hlungwani, David Maake, Aleck Nkuna, Nkakareng Rakgoale, Joyce Khosa, Goodman Motileni, Sonia Ngobeni, Iginitious Sekgobela, Pule Mafologela, Mokgadi Makurupetja, Percy Ndala, Melita Maeko, Japisa Mathonsi, Julia Nyathi, Monet Mabasa, City Modjadji, Donsy Sejaphala, Regina Nghunyula, Daisy Modiba and Blantina Raganya.
