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The three-horse race for the ANC’s second most powerful office in Gauteng was whittled down to two last week, with provincial education MEC Panyaza Lesufi having the edge – but his counterpart, Gauteng’s MEC for economic development, Lebogang Maile, cannot be ruled out.
As the regional conferences in the West Rand and Sedibeng concluded last weekend, it was clear that former Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau, touted as the third contender in the race to become deputy chairperson, was not receiving enough support.
But Dada Morero, the pro-Tau Johannesburg ANC regional secretary, was unfazed, saying Tau was “still on track to battle it out at conference. We believe we have support of delegates throughout the province.”
The ANC in Gauteng is scheduled to sit for a provincial conference this week at St George Hotel in Irene, Tshwane.
Contestation is expected for the posts of deputy chair (Lesufi vs Maile vs Tau), secretary (Hope Papo vs Jacob Khawe) and deputy secretary (Boyce Maneli vs Nomantu Ralehoko).
City Press heard that regional leaders of the ANC in Ekurhuleni, led by mayor Mzwandile Masina on Friday, toyed with the suggestion to nominate Lesufi as treasurer, with a view to allowing Maile to be elected deputy chair.
More meetings were scheduled for Saturday.
Although the move could unite the region’s 301 delegates – the largest representation in conference – it appears that Lesufi was not amenable to the proposal.
An alternative could see Maile compromising and standing as treasurer.
But those backing Lesufi had already earmarked Melina Gomba for the post.
A third scenario punted Lesufi to contest against David Makhura but it has been widely dismissed, except from sections of the Maile camp.
Because of its numbers – more than 1 000 –Ekurhuleni is expected to hold sway at the conference. Johannesburg, which previously was the largest represented region, is expected to bring the second-largest number of delegates, at about 280.
Despite the Tau camp’s determination to fight to the end, Lesufi’s lobbyists have launched the hunt for Tau’s potential votes in a bid to bolster their campaign, tabling a trade-off deal that will see Tau co-opted into the ANC national executive committee in return for his endorsement.
But those close to Tau have questioned the motives for this, suggesting that placing discussions on Tau’s future moves in the public domain before they were officially endorsed could compromise him.
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