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Gauteng Premier David Makhura was uncontested as the new chairperson of the ANC in Gauteng last weekend but there is widespread agreement that the election marks his last lap as a provincial leader.
Touted as the rising star in the ANC, it is commonplace to hear Makhura referred to as a future candidate for the ANC secretary-general position and that “he has outgrown provincial politics”.
The heated contestation for the deputy chairperson position, won by education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, sent a clear signal that the ANC in Gauteng was preparing for a post-Makhura era, including in government.
But his prospective rise to national politics would bring with it a new dilemma for the Gauteng ANC going to the party’s 2022 national conference because Makhura and his predecessor Paul Mashatile, now ANC treasurer-general, would both desperately need the province’s support.
Makhura’s allies said it might not necessarily be a problem if two prominent Gauteng figures vied for a top-six post of the ANC because what should matter was the value that those who were elected brought to the party.
For example, said a provincial insider, Jessie Duarte, the ANC deputy secretary-general, was also from Gauteng (in addition to Mashatile), so in reality the province had two people from its constituency among the current national officials.
But the ANC worked in a slightly different approach, with provincial leaders bargaining for top-six positions for their representatives in return for their support. So the idea of having two people from Gauteng in the top six would be problematic for many provinces, said another Gauteng ANC person.
It was also difficult to make it into the ANC top six without the support of your home province, as it happened with Mashatile’s predecessor Zweli Mkhize, who had gained the post on the back of support from his home province in KwaZulu-Natal, but a fallout with the provincial leaders saw him booted out of Luthuli House.
It was also tough for candidates to convince other provinces to back them if they did not have the support of their home province and were unable to present a substantial number of delegates with whom to bargain.
Makhura’s preference for former Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau to become his deputy was seen as an attempt to lay a foundation so that he would leave behind a person loyal to him at the back when he takes on new challenges.
Suspicions Makhura preferred Tau started when he “spoke colourfully about him” in public. The issue was mentioned as the source of the fallout between “the bishops” in the so-called Alexandra-centred power bloc – named as Mashatile, national executive committee (NEC) member Nkenke Kekana and Johannesburg chairperson Geoff Makhubo. The last two apparently agreed with Makhura on Tau.
Those close to Makhura said he was not the best person to lead the campaign for Tau to become deputy because it would not gain traction, as happened to ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa last year when he named people that he wanted to serve with him.
The lobby for Tau was rejected by another lobby group backing the third deputy chairperson contender, economic development MEC Lebogang Maile. Makhura was apparently warned that if he wanted a deputy who would become a mere “personal assistant” to him then he would not be guaranteed an uncontested nomination at the conference.
City Press heard that the Gauteng ANC had previously asked Tau to withdraw from contesting a position in the (NEC) at the ANC’s national conference in Nasrec in Johannesburg last December, in exchange for being pushed to become Makhura’s deputy when the province sits for a conference.
Lesufi and former Tshwane mayor Sputla Ramokgopa were asked to step aside so that the more senior members of the province could emerge, but Ramokgopa refused.
Last weekend Ramokgopa had been touted to challenge Makhura but the lobby did not take off.
“The manner in which the Gauteng leadership recklessly pronounced that it would make Tau the deputy chairperson so many months before even the province was scheduled to sit was irresponsible and that is what has compromised him,” said an ally.
But those who backed Tau said Maile was also being positioned by Mashatile to drive his “2022 project for the ANC presidency”, which was “being consolidated behind the scenes”.
“There are dynamics at play. Once Makhura ascends to power, he is likely not to be married to this 2022 project so you can’t really compromise a project you are consolidating and that is Mashatile’s thinking.
“You can’t have people you can’t rely on. But having Maile as deputy chair, the project is much safer. You can’t have Parks because he is an administrator. In terms of the real battle for presidency, you need someone else and not Tau.”
City Press has learnt that Maile, new provincial ANC secretary Jacob Khawe “and all the young ones”, including Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina, are linked to project 2022.
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