Vuyiso Tyhalisisu is the new chair of the African National Congress (ANC) in the Western Cape. Photo: Facebook/ SABC
The African National Congress (ANC) is taking a fresh charge at the Western Cape after years of being on the back foot.
The Western Cape ANC held its provincial elective conference for the first time in eight years at the Cape Town International Convention Centre yesterday.
Vuyiso Tyhalisisu was voted in as the new chair. The former regional secretary of the Dullah Omar region received 311 votes, compared to 282 for Cameron Dugmore, party leader in the provincial legislature.
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The former West Coast regional secretary, Neville Delport, was voted in as secretary, Derek Appel as treasurer, Sharon Davids as deputy chair and Ayanda Bans as deputy secretary.
But political analyst Goodenough Mashego said the Democratic Alliance (DA) had no reason to be worried as this ANC move strengthened the DA and weakened the ruling party tremendously in the province.
According to Mashego, a nomination from the floor was not an indication of democracy.
He said Tyhalisisu may come from one of the biggest districts in the Western Cape, but the district did not speak to the majority of the Western Cape.
“A nomination from the floor is an indication of a conspiracy behind closed doors. There was a lot of conspiracy going on because Dugmore went into this conference being confident he was going to win,” Mashego said.
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“You must also remember DA leader John Steenhuisen loved to refer to Dugmore as a token white inside the ANC.”
Mashego said this could be likened to a moment some time ago when Lincoln “James” Ngculu and Mcebisi Skwatsha conspired to contest Ebrahim Rasool (former premier of the ANC Western Cape) at the time former president Thabo Mbeki was the president of the ANC.
Ngculu was the provincial chair of the ANC’s Western Cape branch from 2005 to 2008, while Skwatsha was the secretary in the province.
“I remember there was a lot of pressure being put on Ngculu and Skwatsha not to contest Rasool because, although it was not mentioned at the time, the black leadership was going to eliminate most of the coloured and the whites towards the DA. And Ngculu and Skwatsha did not heed that advice,” he said.
“The emergence of the former Independent Democrats was as a result of the elections in the Western Cape not being managed politically.
“We have seen this time around that they were not managed politically because it was important for Dugmore’s position not to be contested.
“The whites and coloureds of the Western Cape need to see the ANC as a home they can go to,” Mashego said.
DA leader in the Western Cape Tertuis Simmers said the DA in the province had already started its national and provincial 2024 campaign. The goal was to retain the province with an outright majority.
“We have already appointed our campaign teams in every constituency and region, with the provincial team headed up by David Maynier and Bernhard Lotriet,” he said.
“Across the province we are driving intensive registration campaigns and with the upcoming by-elections we aim to win wards off the opposition who keep enabling the ANC.
“The ANC is history in the Western Cape, as was confirmed by their secretary-general Fikile Mbalula. They only stay in power through proxy parties like Patriotic Alliance and GOOD,” Simmers said.
– lungas@citizen.co.za
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