Cape Town - ANC camps are defying ANC elder and former President Kgalema Motlanthe’s call for no slates and no use of money ahead of the party’s 55th conference in December, an analyst said.
This is despite his promise in August to clamp down on slate-based campaigning. In a press briefing in August, Motlanthe said his committee would come down on “factional practices and vote-buying”.
While the slates of other candidates, such as former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize and Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, are not clear, it is understood they are making behind-the-scenes movements to prop a slate to put up a challenge against President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ticket for a second term.
Ramaphosa’s slate is believed to comprise his backers, including Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, who is touted for the secretary-general position.
The Weekend Argus reported at the weekend that influential businessman and ANC member Cheslyn Mostert had been bankrolling Western Cape regions to back President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second term.
A day later, a WhatsApp poster of Mostert propping him for an NEC position emerged. Mostert referred queries to his Gauteng branch.
Despite slates and WhatsApp posters doing the rounds on social media and in party circles, when approached for comment, electoral committee secretary Livhuwani Matsila said: “The electoral committee is not aware of any slates at this moment.”
Analyst Professor Andre Duvenage said slates definitely exist in the party.
“If there is one member of the ANC I respect it is Kgalema Motlanthe. So I believe he is the right person to be in charge of the party’s election committee. He has set up a lot of rules for the conference.
“But the fact of the matter is that we have seen over the last number of years, increasingly, that the ANC has an inability to apply its own rules, especially when it comes to the interest of the political elite. They just can’t take decisions.”
He said this starkly contrasted with the DA, where sometimes “you get a clean-up operation”. He cited how Mmusi Maimane was cleared out.
“Sometimes management needs to intervene in a drastic way in order to get structures to function in a proper way. This is not happening in the ANC and as a result of this it is an organisation in total chaos.
“We have seen numbers and numbers of slates. Unfortunately, it’s out of control.”
He said one can expect money to exchange hands in the branches and before conference – as is alleged to have happened at the Nasrec conference.
soyiso.maliti@inl.co.za