Disgruntled ANC branches revolt
Members' fury over candidate lists
Feb 16, 2011 9:32 PM | By CHANDRÉ PRINCE and AMUKELANI CHAUKE
A revolt is ripping through the ANC as hundreds of disgruntled party members embark on a power struggle ahead of the local government elections.
'Friends and relatives of the powerful displace branch nominees'
In a dramatic show of defiance, about 500 members from three provinces descended on ANC headquarters in Luthuli House, Johannesburg, this week, demanding that senior officials intervene in a worsening row over election candidate lists.
Disaffected party members from Gauteng, Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga claim lists of nominated councillors include friends and relatives of the powerful, and not people chosen by the branches.
This week, members from several regions in the three provinces arrived at Luthuli House in buses and taxis and called for "immediate action to address a volatile situation".
Late yesterday, disgruntled ANC members from Western Cape were said to be on their way to Johannesburg.
Eastern Cape, an ANC stronghold, sent about 120 delegates to Johannesburg in 10 minibuses on Monday, mainly from the Alfred Nzo region in the former Transkei.
Regional spokesman Bhedeshane Mceleli said the candidate lists had been manipulated, and deserving candidates with clean track records had been excluded from them.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe at first refused to meet the dissidents - on the grounds that they had not made an appointment to see him - but he relented when they threatened to start a violent protest. He promised them that he would visit Eastern Cape soon.
"We want him to understand how volatile this situation is. People have warned that they will have a revolt like in Egypt, only a bit more aggressive," said Mceleli.
There was plenty of aggression on show at the party's Eastern Cape headquarters, in King Williams Town yesterday.
ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane was assaulted and chased down the street by a mob of 200 people, who beat him with fists and sticks after breaking down the gate to the HQ. They demanded action on candidate lists they claimed were rigged.
About 30 police arrived and used stun grenades to disperse the angry crowd.
ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said the party condemned the behaviour of the Eastern Cape members who attacked Mabuyane.
"The ANC will be taking strong action against any members who were involved in this criminal activity . [and] will also undertake a full investigation into the incident with a view to punish those behind the attack," he said.
"We warn any member of the ANC or community that we will not tolerate such behaviour in the Eastern Cape or anywhere else."
At Luthuli House yesterday, hundreds of delegates from four ANC branches in Pretoria descended unannounced in five buses and 10 minibus taxis.
They waved posters with messages such as "Tshwane region deny us a way to heaven: Zuma save us" and "ANC will lose votes if the voices of the people are not heard". Another poster read "If ANC does not resolve this mess, we don't vote".
They accused the Tshwane regional executive committee of the party of replacing members their branches had chosen as candidates with executive committee nominees.
A branch leader, who represented the protesters in a four-hour meeting with senior provincial ANC officials, said the branches wanted the lists scrapped and the nominations process begun again.
"We are saying the delegates changed the list of people we nominated and replaced them with their own, preferred candidates.
"This is what we are fighting against, and Sputla Ramokgopa [chairman of the regional executive committee and Tshwane mayor] is the one that is causing these problems as it is people from his faction who are responsible for this," he said.
Ramokgopa was not available for comment yesterday.
The branch leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Luthuli House ignored a memorandum sent to it two weeks ago.
Gauteng ANC spokesman Dumisa Ntuli condemned the protests, saying those who lost out in the nomination process were not preferred by residents and the screening committees.
Shortly after Eastern Cape members arrived at Luthuli House, early on Monday, a disgruntled faction from Mpumalanga arrived.
Tensions were high in the Mpumalanga town of Ermelo, where service-delivery protests erupted that day. But the violence is believed to have been fuelled by dissatisfaction about election candidate lists.
Brian Sokutu, another ANC spokesman, said concerns raised by the branch members who travelled to Luthuli House would be investigated by their provincial leaders.
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