Western Cape ANC divided on Zuma
2012-10-02 14:45
Cape Town - The ANC in the Western Cape has not yet decided who it will nominate to lead the party for the next five years, provincial chairperson Marius Fransman said on Tuesday.
He said the provincial executive committee (PEC) would meet on Wednesday for "both a policy and a name discussion", and talks on the "type of leadership" required for that policy.
The PEC would allow the branches to submit nominations and hold meetings over the next two months.
Fransman said the province, which had about 38 000 ANC members, would send around 170 delegates to the national elective conference, although this number could change.
Nomination process
On Friday, the African National Congress opened its nomination process for the leadership contest in Mangaung in December, after concluding branch membership audits.
Fransman was quoted in the Cape Times on Tuesday as saying that he personally believed President Jacob Zuma should serve a second term and that he was not supporting radical leadership change.
However, he told Sapa the ultimate goal was to "show cohesion, and not speculate".
"We need to consolidate and bring [about] a more stable ANC... the Western Cape is a small province [which is likely] to have different opinions. We must do it in a way that is respectful for one another."
Provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile told the Cape Times that change was inevitable and the party needed to renew its image.
This sentiment was shared by the ANC Youth League in the Cape Town metro, which accounted for over 60% of the province's younger members.
ANCYL regional chairperson Khaya Yozi told Sapa the ANC leadership had failed in implementing all the resolutions taken during the Polokwane conference in 2007, at which Zuma was elected ANC president.
Freedom charter
The youth league wanted leaders who understood the mandate given by its branches - to implement the freedom charter.
"We feel that comfortably, without fear, we can say we no longer have confidence in the president. We seek to replace him," Yozi said.
"We rather identify or are looking for [deputy president] Kgalema Motlanthe as president. We think he will best implement our mandate in the next five years."
Yozi said that though Fransman personally supported Zuma, this was not the position of the PEC as a whole.
"Western Cape is going for change. The province is appreciating the energy we [as the youth league] are wanting to put in."
The youth league renewed its calls for nationalisation of "strategic sectors" in mining, the expropriation of land without compensation, and a focus on access to quality education for all.
- SAPA
