North West nominations to miss deadline
2012-11-30 19:15
Carien du Plessis, City Press
Johannesburg - The ANC in the North West is set to miss the ANC’s deadline today for nominations for its elective congress in Mangaung next month.
This comes amid serious ructions in the province between groups led by provincial chairperson Supra Muhamapelo and secretary Kabelo Mataboge.
Mataboge survived a shooting in the early morning hours when he arrived home. The motive for the attack is not yet known but there has been speculation that it is related to the nominations conference as tensions about a venue for the conference surfaced yesterday.
The North West conference was set to go ahead today in Hartbeespoort but Muhamapelo, who was at the Cosmos Hall venue next to the dam today, said the verification process by the ANC’s head office hadn’t been done yet.
"This has to do with administration and because the verification is done by them, head office will understand,' he said.
The province is set to have a provincial executive meeting at 14:00 tomorrow, after which the conference is expected to start if member verification had been completed.
Muhamapelo said the provincial executive committee supported a second term for President Jacob Zuma, but the branches "are free to decide for themselves".
ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu confirmed that the province had been in touch with ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe about the delay in the process, but couldn’t comment on it. "I am not able to speak about this issue," he said.
Mantashe's phone was off when approached for comment.
The provincial leadership had earlier met with representatives from the ANC’s national executive committee, including businessman Thaba Mufamadi and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, in a bid to resolve a dispute about the venue for the conference.
Mataboge organised a conference at the Mmabatho Civic Hall, but the party’s national leadership seems to be unprepared to accept its outcome.
At the small Cosmos Hall in Hartebeespoort, just about big enough to take the 243 delegates, quiet music was playing proclaiming a second term for Zuma.
One of the delegates, wearing a 100% Zumantashe T-shirt proclaiming a second term for Zuma on the back, said they were happy to wait however long it would take.
"We waited for 360 years [after Jan van Riebeek arrived in the country] and this is a minute compared to that.”
The hall was decorated with a huge banner bearing Zuma's face, and smaller banners bearing the faces of the ANC's former presidents.
