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Ten months ago Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtshweni was a virtual unknown.
David Mabuza had been sworn in as deputy president, leaving a vacuum after his nine-year reign in the province.
Although Mabuza had appointed her to act for him a number of times, when she was given the job in March many ANC members asked who she was.
Mtshweni was the cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC in Mabuza’s executive, but what prompted the question was that she was not an elected member of either a regional or provincial executive committee, but merely a branch member.
Although Mtshweni is still not an executive member of any higher ANC structure, she is poised to retain her position as premier after this year’s general election and replace Mabuza as the party’s provincial chairperson when an elective conference is convened some time this year.
Mtshweni is also listed at the top of the province list which means she has garnered enough support among ANC branches to make a serious bid for power.
But now questions are being raised about how she got to the top, principally among members of the Umkhonto weSizwe Veterans’ Council and others who believe Mabuza exercised undue control in the province, and who claim the list process was fraudulent and corrupt.
MK council member Jacques Modipane described the processes as “perverted” and called on Luthuli House to intervene or civil society would be mobilised to make Mpumalanga ungovernable.
“There’s a possibility that people might not be able to vote next year as we’re about to pull the trigger.
“It will be a mass action and I hope it’s going to be peaceful. The issue here is that processes were not followed, they were perverted,” Modipane said.
“In due time the people of Mpumalanga will know who is responsible for the mess.
“My assessment is that it all started in 2008 and the monster began raising its head,” he said, referring to the year Mabuza was elected provincial ANC chairperson.
A date for the next provincial elective conference has not been set, but haggling behind closed doors has begun in earnest.
A slate from the province’s largest ANC region, Ehlanzeni, shows that branches want Mtshweni to succeed Mabuza.
It is an open secret that Ehlanzeni chairperson Ngrayi Ngwenya is leading Mtshweni’s campaign.
The slate indicates she has support from the Gert Sibande region because the executive mayor and regional chairperson, Muzi Chirwa, is listed as her deputy on the slate.
One of Mtshweni’s lobbyists told City Press that serious inroads had been made into the Nkangala region where the cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC, Speedy Mashilo, is chairperson.
“Bohlabela region has its own internal fights because some members still believe the region should be given a shot at the chairpersonship for the first time,” the lobbyist said.
“Her support in that region comes from one faction.”
When Mabuza vacated his provincial chairpersonship after being elected deputy president of the ANC at Nasrec, a scramble ensued with 10 candidates, including Mtshweni, vying for the position.
Now there are five.
The province has failed to convene a general council to replace Mabuza and his former deputy chairperson, Violet Siwela, who was elected on to the ANC’s national executive committee at Nasrec.
Read: Meet Refilwe Mtshweni, the Mpumalanga premier elect who quietly does her job
A date for the hearing is yet to be set.
If the application succeeds, it could affect President Cyril Ramaphosa’s election because it will mean that Mpumalanga delegates came from bogus branches.
It will also affect the outcome of the list conference.
William Nkatha, one of the applicants in the case, said the slate was an outcome of corruption in the ANC in Mpumalanga.
“Who is Refilwe?” he asked, echoing his question first posed nine months ago.
“Her name came up because a master appointed her to be premier. We want to cut them from getting into government, because that’s where they use public resources to remain in power.”
