By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Northern Cape Premier, Zamani Saul, has been re-elected unopposed as the provincial chairperson of the ANC.
This as the party in the province hosts its elective conference this weekend at the Namakwa Guest Farm in Springbok. Alongside Saul, Bentley Vass has been elected as the Deputy Chairperson, Daluxolo Ngxanga is the party’s provincial secretary, whilst Maruping Lekwene is his deputy. Fufe Makatong is the party’s treasurer.
Day one of the conference kicked off without disruption despite concerns that a faction in the province would have their way and halt proceedings. In his address on day one of the conference as the incumbent chairperson, Saul addressed the issue of factionalism briefly.
He said the ANC was succeeding in dealing with divisions in the party which was amongst the three “dangers” that the previous provincial executive committee wanted to deal with in their four-year term. He applauded the party for its handling of cabinet reshuffling and commitment to sowing out said divisions.
As an organisation we do very little to celebrate the historical contribution of secretaries-general in the life of the organisation. It’s only when we experience problems in that office that we come to appreciate the importance of the Office of the Secretary-General,” Saul said this in his political report at the 9th Northern Cape ANC provincial conference currently underway at Springbok in the Namakwa region.
The Northern Cape ANC leadership elected unopposed as a sign of unity in the province. President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the conference virtually on Saturday at 3pm.
Much more insidious has been the prevalence of sexism in our movement. Male comrades tend to push women comrades out of positions of leadership or verbally attack women leaders in public or on social media or prevent women from standing for positions.https://t.co/yq20hL4uT1
— Cyril Ramaphosa ?? #StaySafe (@CyrilRamaphosa) May 29, 2021
Saul told the conference delegates that from July 2021 till November 2022 the ANC must on monthly basis convene political lectures on the lives and legacies of each of the 16 Secretary Generals of the organisation. This should be done alongside the current programme to celebrate the life of late Charlotte Maxeke and other stalwarts.
In a clear reference to Ace Magashule’s defiance of the ANC, he said out of all the 15 ANC former Secretary Generals it was for the first time that the ANC was confronted with such a peculiar problem where the Secretary-General was deeply compromised. “So comrades, there are no historical lessons, on how best to deal with the current problem, because we do not have a history of a Secretary-General with a distorted logic about his role, thinking that he is above the organisation and its Constitution, above conference resolutions and above the NEC,” he said.
“When the SG becomes conflicted and deeply entangled to an extent that he is central to the problems that confront the organisation, then we are sitting with a grave challenge. That is basically where we are today,” Saul said.
He added that Walter Sisulu and Duma Nokwe as then secretaries-general worked very hard and closely with then servicing presidents to build a strong and united ANC with a capacity to confront the apartheid onslaught. “They worked very closely with the then presidents because they fully appreciated the fact that the president who is the head of the organisation and the secretary-general who is the head of administration constitutes the centre of gravity in the work of the organisation,” Saul said.
Saul said Northern Cape ANC had become an epitome of unity within the party because its leadership had taken steps to fight divisions and unite members. He conceded that the May 2017 provincial conference held in Colesburg was muddied by divisions, violence, and utter ill-discipline, but his provincial executive committee (PEC) had worked hard to address the problem. That’s way Northern Cape had “the most united provincial delegation” at Nasrec and the current conference went smoothly with minimum glitches.
Amongst those in attendance is ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte.
Livestream Video Below:
Video Courtesy of ANC.