Tight race in Limpopo for ANC’s provincial chair

A total of 1,100 delegates will participate in the 10th Limpopo ANC provincial elective conference from Friday until Sunday at the Ranch Hotel.

The contest will be between two factions. The so-called “VBS Brigades” and the “CR22”.

Current ANC chair Stan Mathabatha, who is also the province’s premier, will lock horns with former party deputy provincial chair Namane Dickson Masemola for the position as chair.

Mathabatha was South Africa’s ambassador to Ukraine before he was head-hunted as premier by former president Jacob Zuma when the province was in the brink of collapse in 2012.

In 2014 and 2018 respectively, he was elected ANC provincial chair and then the province premier.

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Masemola worked as executive mayor for Sekhukhune district municipality for more than 10 years and served for two terms as ANC regional chair.

He also worked as MEC for transport and community safety, MEC for education and MEC for public works during the previous and the current regime.

He was deputy ANC provincial chair under Cassel Mathale.

Whichever faction wins will set the tone for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s political future at the party’s upcoming national elective conference in December.

ANC Sekhukhune regional chair Julia Mathebe said she was confident Mathabatha would be re-elected provincial chair for a third term.

“We are one of the biggest regions in Limpopo and the entire region is rallying behind him. I can assure you, this election will just be a walk in the park for Mathabatha,” said Mathebe.

A delegate from Mopani, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not tasked to speak to the media, said Masemola was the right man for the job.

“He knows the politics of the ANC inside out, he knows local governance like he knows the palm of his hand and he is more qualified for the job.”

ANC deputy provincial secretary Basikop Makamu said: “We are ready for a free and fair conference. All we are waiting for is time to begin.”

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Makamu said about 1,100 delegates from branches in Mopani, Vhembe, Sekhukhune, Peter Mokaba and Waterberg would participate in the election of the top five positions and additional members to form the new provincial executive committee of the Limpopo ANC.

He said some of the issues billed for discussions in commissions are the rebirth of the ANC, the land question and the implementation of the step-aside rule which, he said, was divisive.

“But we believe we will all come out of the conference even more united, speaking from the same page and oozing with the zeal to do more for the organisation,” said Makamu.