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The feud between the ANC and its government in the Northern Cape is worsening as the party’s biggest region in the province, a civil society group and an opposition party this week protected the embattled premier from her new party bosses.
Premier Sylvia Lucas stands accused of reshuffling the provincial cabinet last week without consulting the ANC. She will have to lobby powerful friends if she is to survive the looming chop from newly elected provincial ANC chairperson Zamani Saul.
City Press on Friday saw a complaint document that the ANC’s Frances Baard region addressed to the party’s national executive committee seeking to nullify Saul’s election at a provincial conference last weekend in Colesberg.
However, Saul said: “We welcome that as the ANC, and we firmly believe that it will not succeed. The preparations towards the provincial conference were meticulously executed in accordance with the ANC constitution and conference guidelines.
“There is one of two ways you can respond to an unfortunate outcome or result – you can become extremely agitated, filled with anger and throw your toys out of the cot, or you can accept defeat, pick up the pieces and start rebuilding. So, if Sylvia and her group choose to throw their toys out of the cot because of a conference outcome that did not favour them, they are welcome to that,” he said.
He said the new provincial leaders “will not be spectators, [and] we will do everything in our capacity to defend the ANC in the province and mitigate the impact of their conduct. Our work of building the ANC in the province has started already and they will meet [us] on the ground.”
Lucas was expected to contest Saul for the ANC post, but she opted not to accept the nomination at the provincial conference because of clear indications that it had been packed with delegates who backed Saul. Losing out on the post has made Lucas vulnerable.
Her decision to reshuffle the provincial cabinet on the eve of conference was seen as an attempt to undermine Saul, and conference delegates openly called for her to be fired. Saul this week gave her an ultimatum to reverse the reshuffle by Friday or face the consequences. Lucas said she would not budge.
In the document addressed to ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and his deputy Jessie Duarte, Frances Baard chairperson Thapelo Dithebe cites “objections [that] were raised over a protracted period prior to the conference to all the relevant structures, including the national officials”.
“There were no serious attempts to address the issues we raised and, instead, we were faced with obfuscations, untruths and further manipulation with a single-minded focus on holding the conference by hook or by crook,” he said.
In terms of the ANC constitution, the national executive committee has the power to suspend or dissolve a provincial body where necessary, and may appoint an interim structure during the period of suspension.
This week, a statement from 55 ANC branches in Frances Baard defended Lucas, saying that “the branches of the ANC fully understand the powers vested in the premier and therefore respect the fact that no premier will wilfully abuse her powers”.
“We equally understand that, as the leader of government, when a premier is no longer supported nor respected by those MECs from within her cabinet, any premier would use the powers vested in them to make amendments.”
Those close to Lucas told City Press the reshuffle had been prompted by a corruption case involving R26 million that Lucas opened with the Hawks. The funds were linked to preparations for the ANC conference, but provincial secretary Deshi Ngxanga on Monday rejected the claims.
“There is no single individual who can claim to have paid the costs of the conference. In fact, we only paid a deposit to all service providers. We have proof of payment to back up our case,” Ngxanga said.
On Wednesday, Northern Cape Khoi and San leaders Gaob Swartbooi and Barend van Wyk said Saul and his team were “[clearly] not suitable to represent the ruling party and party structures in the Northern Cape”.
“We want to congratulate and support the [premier] for the brave step that she took to expose these culprits.”
The opposition Congress of the People said it was “not surprised at the revelations about state money being siphoned off to fund the ANC conference”.
“We applaud the brave move by the premier for handing over information about crime to the police. We can only hope that it is dealt with swiftly and the perpetrators are brought to book,” said the party’s Pakes Dikgetsi.
