Rama-Buyane Come Back, Puts Cyril Back in the Race

Just hours after being elected as African National Congress (ANC) chairperson Lubabalo Mabuyane in Eastern Cape, has already started tightening the grip after he was re-elected to lead the province alongside Mlungisi Mvoko, Lulama Ngcukayitobi, Helen Sauls-August, and Zolile Williams. 

Mabuyane’s win will boost ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa’s re-election campaign. The Eastern Cape will have a significant number of delegates at the national conference, which is set to happen at the end of the year, and with the backing of Mabuyane, Ramaphosa could be looking at a comfortable win. 

Williams is the only newcomer in the group, occupying the treasurer position that was once the duty of Mabuyane’s competitor, Babalo Madikizela.

Speaking to the media after the results were announced, Mabuyane expressed the need for party president Cyril Ramaphosa to be endorsed. He went on to hail Ramaphosa for being courageous enough to have taken major steps towards organizational renewal.
 
“I know the people of the Eastern Cape including the members of the ANC in the Eastern Cape would like to see the president moving forward. This country needs the caliber of a president.” he said
 “President Cyril Ramaphosa is one president. This downward spiral trend is not something that just came overnight, we have been seeing it over time.

Surely anyone serious about the country, serious about the future of our people cannot think far from a person like President Cyril Ramaphosa,” he continued.

Out of the 1,477 votes cast, Mabuyane managed to secure 812 while his opponent Madikizela only managed to get 662 votes. 
The unexpected occurred when former Nelson Mandela Bay councilor Andile Lungisa received fewer votes than Williams, who is currently the Joe Gqabi Municipal Manager. While Lungisa was initially the only member to have reached the threshold to contest the treasurer position, a nomination for Williams came from the floor.

Williams received 799 votes while Lungisa only received 673. 

The question on everyone’s lips is what does this victory in Eastern Cape mean for Ramaphosa?
Eastern Cape sends the second biggest delegation to the national conference after KZN.

The next conference which will have an important bearing on the outcomes of the national conference in December is that of the KwaZulu-Natal province in a few months. 

The eThekwini region has been won by those opposing Ramaphosa and with Zandile Gumede back at the helm, it could be a hard nut to crack for the governing party’s leader.
 
Ramaphosa delivered a keynote address and he asked winners and losers to put their differences aside and serve the community.

Eastern Cape and KZN play a huge role in who wins the national conference as they have big numbers.

Its not clear if Eastern Cape will support Paul Mashatile in his Deputy president bid following remarks made by Mabuyane after Mashatile instructed PTT to include Madikizela’s allies Nkompela and Tutu a move many saw as support for Madikizela.

DISRUPTIONS
The weekend’s nomination and election process hit a snag when opposing slates could not agree on conference credentials.
Delegates aligned to Madikizela were still disgruntled over the Dr. WB Rabusana region’s involvement in the voting process. This is despite having their court bid to interdict the region from participating in the conference being struck off the roll with costs by the high court in East London on Saturday evening. 

There were also queries about veterans who were listed as voting delegates. Some argued that there was no legitimate veterans structure in the province, so it made no sense for them to participate. 

The provincial task team’s head of communications Stella Ndabeni- Abrahams, aligned with Mabuyane’s Buya slate, also mentioned that Madikizela’s supporters were disrupting proceedings by breaking out in song while credentials were being discussed. 

She also allayed fears that the conference would collapse or that the tension between opposing slates would result in a repeat of the 2017 “festival of chairs” chaos.

“No one is going to pick up a chair, security has been tightened inside,” Ndabeni- Abrahams said. 

The steering committee, consisting of ANC national executive committee (NEC) members, had a meeting to find a way to deal with these issues and then make another attempt to present the credentials report. 

The second time around the process went ahead smoothly with delegates reaching a consensus which meant that credentials could finally be adopted.

Once this process was completed, nominations were finally announced. 
Mabuyane and Madikizela were announced as the candidates vying for the chairperson as well as the other candidates vying for the remaining positions of the top five and Madikezela has indicated he will resign.

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