FINALLY, the highly anticipated ANC eThekwini regional conference got underway on Sunday, 10 April – on the day it was supposed to end!
At the centre of the battle was whether regional task team (RTT) members should be allowed to vote in the conference, as proposed by the faction aligned to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The proposal was fiercely contested by the Zandile Gumede faction, who argued that the provincial executive committee has instructed that task team members should not be allowed to vote and the Ramaphosa faction was clutching at straws to boost their numbers.
In addition, the Radical Economic Transformation-aligned Gumede supporters argued that some of the task team members were not from the region and therefore were not eligible to vote in any case.
Provincial spokesman Nhlakanipho Ntombela confirmed to Daily Sun that the proposal to have task team voting had been defeated and credentials had been adopted, and the conference was continuing.
“The task team voting status has since been resolved and the conference is underway,” Ntombela said.
ANC national spokesman Pule Mabe, who was also at the conference, told reporters on the sidelines that allowing task team members to vote would be tantamount to imposing the wish of the province on the region.
“So if you vote as an RTT convener of the KZN region you will effectively be imposing your will and wish on the people of that specific region where you do not reside,” Mabe said.
As the nominations for positions started, it emerged that Gumede and Thabani Nyawose had reached the threshold of nominations and were to go head to head for the position of chairperson.
Gumede was not present at the conference as she is barred from attending party events, but she confirmed her availability in a letter while Nyawose accepted the nomination.
Other nominations for the rest of the top regional positions were also announced. By the evening, delegates from 89 branches were heading to the voting booth to elect new leadership.
A win for Gumede is widely seen as a setback for Ramaphosa’s campaign for a second term and the end of the road for Premier Sihle Zikalala.
A Gumede win would also boost the chances for sacked health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize’s campaign for deputy president, and a foot in the door for Finance MEC Nomsa Dube-Ncube.
