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It is barely a week after Limpopo finalised its provincial conference and the conduct of some members at regional conferences indicates that it is far from being united.
The Peter Mokaba and Waterberg regions were holding their conferences this pastweekend.
On Saturday, some delegates at the Peter Mokaba conference booed whenever the name of newly-elected provincial secretary Soviet Lekganyane was mentioned.
The booing lends credence to sentiments that the provincial executive committee (PEC), led by Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha, was dominated by “recycled” individuals who served in the previous PEC under Cassel Mathale before it was disbanded.
Lekganyane was then serving as the provincial secretary, alongside the current provincial deputy chairperson, Florence Radzilani.
Some party members told City Press that while there was a need for unity, factionalist tendencies were still rife in the province: “There are already efforts to force the premier to reshuffle his cabinet to accommodate some of these guys.
One prominent party leader said: “The upcoming election list conferences may be another turf for factional battles. You may remember that Mathale was available to contest for [the position of chairperson] with Mathabatha at the provincial conference, but was given a position in the national government.”
In his opening address at the Peter Mokaba regional conference in Polokwane, Mathabatha insisted that the provincial conference produced leadership “that has no hang-ups from Nasrec”.
“The regional conferences must not have the hang-ups from The Ranch [the provincial conference venue in Polokwane]. We must learn from what happened in the past. We go to conferences divided, but we should emerge united,” Mathabatha said.
ANC national executive committee deployee Bongani Bongo also spoke on the need for unity. He said there was a bigger agenda to destroy the ANC.
Bongo called on branch members to be vigilant: “There is a greater need to educate members on, among other issues, how to lead a branch. You can’t ‘fundraise’ a dispute.
“If you are a leader of the branch, you must make people happy. By doing so you make the ANC happy and the party won’t have a problem in winning the elections,” he said.
In the Peter Mokaba region, Capricorn District Municipality Mayor John Mpe and Polokwane Mayor Thembi Nkadimeng, whose names were at the centre of a bloody clash in the provincial capital over government tenders a month ago, are vying for the position of regional chairperson.
The Peter Mokaba region is seen as influential, as it is the economic hub of the province. Either Mpe or Nkadimeng may ascend to the mayoral position of the region, should either become regional chairperson. Nkadimeng did not make the threshold through branch nominations, instead she made it through nomination from the floor.
