By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Africa National Congress (ANC) North West 9th elective Conference is being hit by yet another delay after a decision was taken to postpone the conference by another two weeks.
It is expected to resume on the 25th of this month and is expected to run from then until the 27th.
ANC NEC deployees Obed Bapela and Nomvula Mokonyane gave an update on the conference status during media briefing in Rustenburg.
Bapela said “voting for the top 5 will go ahead on Sunday but the conference will then adjourn for two weeks.”
He further said that when the conference reconvenes, additional PEC members will be voted in and then commissions will take place.
The elective conference has been marred by legal challenges and including alleged duplicates of accreditations.
According to Mokonyane, a criminal case has been opened and there’s footage to submit as evidence. She says these alleged duplicates will not compromise the conference, as they don’t have 3 way verification features.
“People might have thought they could go and clone our tags, but this tag and this tag are not the same…”
Mokonyane confirmed security had been tightening since the alleged incident.
The conference is currently under way. Current premier Bushy Maape and former ANC MP Nono Maloyi are going head to head for the provincial chairperson position, which was earlier contested by seven candidates who did not make the cut.
There was an earlier attempt to have Maloyi removed from the race on the basis that he faces a culpable homicide case that emanates from 2018 but was later provisionally withdrawn by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Among Maloyi’s detractors is the Bojanala region which wrote to the IPC requesting that Maloyi be barred from contesting as the case could potentially be reinstated if further evidence emerged.
Maloyi described the attempt to remove him as unfortunate and not applicable in so far as the party’s step-aside resolution is concerned.
For the deputy chair position, Lasi Mokgosi and Paul Sebego were nominated and accepted nominations and will be standing for election.
The three other top five positions were not contested, with Sipho Dayel, Viola Motsumi, and Sello Lehari nominated for the positions of provincial secretary, deputy secretary, and treasurer, respectively.
Dayel, however, declined the nomination leading to further candidates having to be nominated from the floor.
Unlike candidates nominated by branches who only need 20% votes from branches in good standing, those nominated from the floor need 25% votes from voting branch delegates at the conference.
Economic Development MEC Kenetswe Mosenogi, who was also vying for the chairperson position, was nominated for the position of provincial secretary and will be contesting as will Louis Diremelo who also managed to receive enough voting branch delegates’ support.
Former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo penned a letter of demand to the ANC demanding that the conference not continue, given that the Interim Provincial Committee that prepared the way for the conference did so despite its term of office having expired.
We understand that NEC members, including the ANC Deputy President, David Mabuza, called Mahumapelo into a steering committee meeting and negotiated that he would not go ahead with a court application to interdict the entire conference from going ahead.
Speculation is rife that Mahumapelo may have been promised an NEC position in return, but he remained mum when asked about this on Sunday morning.
His inclusion in the NEC would be a shot to the arm for the RET faction, whose influence within the NEC has declined. ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa is believed to enjoy over 75% of support from the NEC.
Ramaphosa meanwhile will no longer be delivering a closing address at the conference as planned in Rustenburg on Sunday.