Free State ANC infighting threatens Ramaphosa’s renewal project

Two bulls in one kraal is the underlying factor in a feud that broke out between Free State ANC, Mxolisi Dukwana and his comrade Thabo Manyoni …and the fight threatens to derail President Cyril Ramaphosa’s renewal project in the politically delicate province

Foes

Dukwana, who is convener of the ANC interim provincial committee (IPC) and Manyoni were both staunch Ramaphosa supporters and foes of former ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, but they no longer see eye to eye as the ANC heads toward the national conference.

They are competing with each other for support, a move that could scupper their plan to present a united force at the ANC national conference at Nasrec next month.

It was initially envisaged that the two would agree on an arranged leadership where one would be provincial chair and another his deputy at the next provincial conference, scheduled for 2 December. However, now they were pulling in different directions.

Underhand activities

Their infighting has resulted in alleged underhand activities as they battle to outdo each other on the ground. Members known to be supporting Manyoni are allegedly being excluded from participating in gatherings especially in the Mangaung metro, said to be dominated by Dukwana supporters.

Irregularities

Now the provincial ANC could be taken to court once again for irregularities that allegedly occurred during branch general meetings (BGM). Aggrieved branches had instructed a lawyer to warn the ANC Interim Provincial Committee (IPC) to correct irregularities or face legal action.

This week Bloemfontein-based law firm Mhlokonya Attorneys, which represented the aggrieved members, wrote a letter to IPC coordinator, Paseka Nompondo and Dukwana to bring their attention to the problem.

“Our clients have become cognisant to a litany of irregularities that have bedevilled the process involving the convening and holding of branch meetings which were held in anticipation of the National Conference scheduled for December 2022. We are instructed that the irregularities are of a materially grave nature that they vitiate the whole process leading to the National conference,” the firm’s TG Mhlokonya said.

Mhlokonya cited the violation of the branch members’ constitutional political rights and their contractual provisions with the ANC as members. This included alleged manipulation of branch general meetings where in one instance a deceased person was registered in the attendance register as having attended.

Some signatures were forged and the said signatories had subsequently denied having signed the register. Another member who was not in Bloemfontein at the time had his signature on the attendance register.

Threshold

Mangaung IRC coordinator Sabelo Pitso said that all the branches had met the threshold to attend a regional conference which had since been postponed from 18-20 November to 25-27 November at Safari Lodge in Bloemfontein.

The aggrieved branches vowed to ensure the conference would not proceed without their disputes being resolved satisfactorily. The disputes were being handled by the Provincial Dispute Resolution Committee.

The members had disputed the IRC’s claim the threshold to hold the regional conference had been met.

An IRC member, Monnapule Ntamo, who is aligned to Manyoni, expressed fear about an outbreak of chaos in Mangaung because of the bad way the processes were followed the IRC. Ntamo accused the IRC top five and their working committee of mishandling the branch general meetings and giving wrong information about BGM quorums. He asked for the matter to be investigated thoroughly.

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ericn@citizen.co.za