---

·      The provinces consciously avoided contestation to regain lost ground especially with local government elections around the corner ·      Limpopo premier, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, is now the first ever female as premier and ANC chairperson in the province ·      President Cyril Ramaphosa issues stern warning to ANC members that will campaign for the SACP

---

Sizwe sama Yende

---

Unity slates in Mpumalanga and Limpopo have seen the top five leaders being elected unopposed this weekend.

Negotiations started long before the sitting of the conferences as members began to realise that the dwindling ANC support needed them to stifle factionalism and pay attention to the groundswell of disenchantment about the party’s service delivery performance.

The ANC’s performance in the upcoming local government elections is likely to be more challenging than in 2021, worsened by the SACP’s decision to break ranks and contest state power independent of the ANC.

However, President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned that there would be consequences for ANC members who will be seen campaigning for another party. SACP members hold dual membership of both their party and the ANC.

“The national executive committee (NEC) will decide what happens to ANC members that don’t campaign for the ANC,” Ramaphosa told Limpopo delegates on Sunday when he closed their conference.

“If we see you campaigning for another party you will be in trouble,” he added.

UNITY TALKS

The unity talks in both provinces were initiated on the backdrop of lurking ambitions by potential contenders to challenge premiers – Mandla Ndlovu (Mpumalanga) and Dr Phophi Ramathuba (Limpopo).

Ndlovu was already finishing his first term as ANC chairperson while Ramathuba was challenging for the first time to be the first ever female ANC provincial chairperson in Limpopo and second ever woman to have held such a position in the country after the late Ednar Molewa who led North-West in 2004.

Ramaphosa praised both provinces for conducting incident-free conferences and showing unity. He said that the ANC being in a Government of National Unity was not ideal.

“In order to get out of this situation, the ANC must be strengthened and renewed. The ANC must reinvigorate itself to regain its position as number one, and it will regain that position,” the president told Mpumalanga delegates on Saturday.

MPUMALANGA RE-ELECTS ALL OFFICIALS BUT ONE

In Mpumalanga, deputy chairperson and Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs MEC, Speedy Mashilo, was reportedly believed to be planning to topple Premier Mandla Ndlovu as chairperson, but as time went on, their factions agreed to cease contestation.

This had a ripple effect on all the top five positions, which were not contested.

The only casualty was former treasurer, Mandla Msibi. Msibi’s fate was already written on the wall. Long before the conference Msibi was already having irreconcilable difference with some of the provincial officials and regional leaders.

He returned to his position as treasurer after serving a one-year suspension, which emanated from internal charges pertaining to allegations that he was planning to disrupt the ANC’s January 8 celebrations in Mbombela in 2024.

Since then, the name of City of Mbombela mayor Sibongile Makushe-Mazibuko came up. Makushe-Mazibuko was acting in the position when Msibi was on suspension. Msibi did make it as an additional member in the provincial executive committee.

Ndlovu, Mashilo, Muzi Chirwa (secretary) and Mpumi Hlophe (deputy secretary) retained their positions.

REGIONAL SECRETARIES LED LIMPOPO UNITY

In Limpopo, City of Polokwane mayor John Mpe and his Mopani District counterpart, Pule Shai, were initially being lobbied to contest Ramathuba for the position held by former premier and deputy minister for Land Reform and Rural Development, Stanley Mathabatha.

A discussion of regional secretaries initiated by the Sekhukhune region led to a unity state with Mpe being the deputy chairperson and Shai being deputy secretary.

A member from Ward 10 in Collins Chabane Local Municipality in Vhembe, Basil Mabasa, applied for an interdict against the conference but the court turned him down.

Mabasa was complaining about alleged irregularities in branch general meetings and nomination of candidates.

Mpe was elected deputy chairperson and Shai as deputy secretary. Reuben Madadzhe returned as provincial secretary. Fetakgomo Tubatse mayor, Eddie Maila was elected treasurer.