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Mpumalanga ANC secretary and acting chairperson, Mandla Ndlovu, will contest to replace deputy president David Mabuza if branches nominate him despite concerns of conflict of interest.
Ndlovu has been accused by other contenders for the position of Mpumalanga ANC chairperson of being conflicted because, as secretary, he was responsible for organising the upcoming provincial general council next month to elect a chairperson.
They believed that Ndlovu could use his current position to his advantage and manipulate branch nominations. The contenders wanted him to resign as secretary if he was going to stand as chairperson.
Ndlovu has neither campaigned nor announced his availability for the position despite his name being listed among the contenders and some branch members having begun lobbying for him.
Mabuza endorsed him as his preferred successor after delivering the state of the province address two weeks ago, but Ndlovu insisted that he would wait for the branches to nominate him before he would campaign.
Mabuza’s action riled up the other contenders who raised concerns that Ndlovu’s endorsement looked like a national executive committee decision and a top-down instruction to branches.
“When the branches nominate me at the provincial general council, it is only then that I will resign as secretary and the vacancy will created on the day of the provincial general council,” Ndlovu said.
“Right now, I’m doing my job as secretary and nothing stops branches from nominating me if they feel I should be chairperson. I’ve not campaigned because of my current position and I only participate in organisational programmes in my capacity as secretary and acting chairperson.”
Another contender, Peter Nyoni, said that the ANC constitution was silent on this matter, but raised the concern that Ndlovu’s availability to stand as chairperson while he was secretary could be an advantage to him.
“As things stand, the secretary’s position will be vacant at the provincial general council after branches would have nominated him. The constitution is silent on this, but clearly he has an advantage because he is a secretary,” Nyoni said.
Other concerned branches wrote to Luthuli House about the matter, and they were waiting for secretary-general Ace Magashule’s response.
Beside the conflict of interest regarding Ndlovu’s candidature, questions were raised about his credentials.
He was a former ANC secretary in Bohlabelo region and a former chief whip at Bushbuckridge local municipality. Ndlovu was elected provincial secretary in 2015.
As a youngster, he participated in students politics in the former Gazankulu homeland and was in the ANC youth league structure in Limpopo before Bushbuckridge was re-demarcated into Mpumalanga.
Ndlovu was contesting for the position against Nyoni who is the head of the cooperative governance and traditional affairs department, Fish Mahlalela (member of Parliament), David Dube (Mpumalanga legislature member), and Charles Makola (former deputy chairperson).
The list of contenders has dwindled. Former provincial secretary, Lucky Ndinisa, will now run a campaign alongside Mahlalela as a deputy chairperson. Both Mahlalela and Ndinisa were part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s campaign before the Nasrec conference. However, the Ramaphosa team has disintegrated since the campaign for Mabuza’s successor began. Dube was also Ramaphosa’s campaigner and he was still going alone.
“We don’t want to split the vote of the Ramaphosa campaign team because you know the monster we’re facing in Ndlovu’s camp,” said a Mahlalela lobbyist, “Ideally, we would like to campaign together.”
Mandla Msibi (Mbombela speaker) has also withdrawn from the chairperson contest in order to be secretary on Ndlovu’s slate after it appeared that Ndlovu’s candidature was gaining traction among branches and he was likely to stand as chairperson at the provincial general council.
Premier-elect
Meanwhile, Mpumalanga is set to have its first premier after the ANC’s national working committee nominated Cogta MEC Refilwe Mtshweni to be appointed as Mabuza’s replacement.
Mtshweni has been acting premier since Ramaphosa appointed Mabuza as his deputy. Mpumalanga is due to sit next week to formally elect Mtshweni.
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