Ramaphosa comes out tops in Limpopo despite PGC disagreements
Limpopo this week put its weight behind Ramaphosa at the PGC, as the preferred presidential candidate.
POLOKWANE – Disagreements among delegates at the ANC’s Provincial General Council (PGC), nearly saw the congress collapse on Monday, 4 December.
Read more: JUST IN: ANC Limpopo nominate Cyril Ramaphosa as preferred presidential candidate
The conduct by certain delegates displayed nothing but an extention of hooliganism and political intolerance, which party Secretary General Gwede Mantashe and Deputy Secretary Jessie Duarte explained had the potential to result in “chaotic elective conferences”.
The PGC erupted into song and dance minutes before Duarte was to address the congress. This, after certain delegates cried foul after their names failed to appear on the list of delegates.
Some delegates’ names were removed from the lists as they were said to represent branches which were not in good standing.
The last straw that broke the camel’s back was when an argument ensued between two delegates who supported Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Ramaphosa.
The argument, which nearly degenerated into physical blows in full view of bemused delegates was later quelled by senior ANC bigwigs deployed to marshall the PGC.
Addressing members, Duarte condemned the conduct, saying it was tantamount to ill discipline.
Duarte said the ANC was a known disciplined movement and that the party would not tolerate or support the wayward conduct of delegates at the national elective conference next week.
She said the Limpopo PGC incident happened at a time that the party’s NEC meeting in Pretoria spoke against ill discipline among delegates in party elective conferences.
Duarte said this year’s elective conference would be different. “We will remove any member, any branch or any province from the conference behaving in a way that undermines or plans to degrade the policies of the ANC.
The same sentiment was articulated by Mantashe who told the media at the Luthuli House in Johannesburg that there were strict rules put in place for the conference, set to run from Saturday, 16 until Wednesday, 20 December.
Limpopo has five regions: Mopani, Vhembe, Sekhukhune, Waterberg and Peter Mokaba. Ramaphosa, who has ancestral roots in Venda, has overwhelming support in the province.
He has already bagged the majority of branches from Vhembe and Sekhukhune while Dlamini-Zuma is favoured by Mopani, which is the biggest, in terms of numbers.
Elective conferences in Peter Mokaba and Waterberg are yet to take place on dates and venues still to be decided.
The conference in the Waterberg has been marred by political infighting, which saw the conference postponed more than four times relished by court cases.
Limpopo ANC Chairperson, Stanley Chupu Mathabatha, and his deputy, Jerry Ndou are said to support Ramaphosa, while the party’s Provincial Secretary, Nocks Seabi and Deputy Secretary, Makoma Makhurupetsa are in the Dlamini-Zuma camp.
He received a total of 391 delegate votes against the 104 Dlamini-Zuma garnered.
The outcome of the PGC, which was expected, has since sent the congress into electric jubilation, characterised by dance and songs inside and outside Bolivia Lodge, where proceedings took place.
“We told them that Ramaphosa is a household name here in Limpopo. We have walloped them here in the province and we will show them in Johannesburg,” said Masilu Maloko, Chairperson of the Phusela branch of the ANC in Tzaneen, shortly after the announcement.
Mathabatha reiterated that Limpopo would go to the national conference on Saturday, 16 December with one mandate, united over Ramaphosa. He called for peace within the ANC saying factionalism was a cancer destroying the party. Meanwhile, the PGC in KZN has favoured Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and Mpumalanga Provincial Chairperson, David Mabuza respectively for president and deputy president.
