By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former ANC Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini received the fewest nominations for the presidency at the league’s elective conference taking place in Nasrec, South of Johannesburg.
Dlamini is seeking re-election as the league’s president.
She received 258 branch nominations. The other two contestants for the position – Nokuzola Sisisi Tolashe and Thembeka Mchunu netted 1 604 and 796 nominations, respectively.
Tolashe is the Deputy Minister of Women and Youth in the Presidency and is said to enjoy support from the majority of provinces.
ANC’s biggest province KwaZulu-Natal went into the conference torn between Tolashe and Mchunu, the wife of Water Affairs Minister Senzo Mchunu.
Delegates from the province’s major ANCWL regions of eThekwini and Moses Mabhiba were divided between Mchunu and Tolashe, while some regions rallied behind Dlamini.
The former social development minister, who previously had KZN as her stronghold, is regarded as a staunch supporter of former president Jacob Zuma.
The counting of votes at the conference continued until early Sunday.
Results are expected to be announced before President Cyril Ramaphosa’s scheduled closing of the gathering.
Meanwhile Members of the ANC national executive committee (NEC) Khumbudzo Ntshavheni and Mduduzi Manana had a public confrontation over her removal from the list of deployees for the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) conference.
An upset Ntshavheni crossed the floor to Manana and told him she was there as a guest after he removed her from the list for ANCWL duties.
Ntshavheni further told Manana that she made it clear to him not to assign her to the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) conference because she wanted to be a deployee at the ANCWL conference.
She accused him of using his NEC position for factional battles.
Manana tried to defend himself, telling Ntshavheni that the list of deployees had to be changed several times as there were names on it of people who had no business attending the league’s conference.