With Ace Magashule, the suspended secretary general of the ANC not involved directly in the 9th provincial conference for the very first time, it means the province is set to have only the second chairman in the democratic dispensation as Magashule hanged on to the position for 20 years making him the longest-serving chairman.
That said, this meant the province will have a new chairman as the party goes to its provincial conference on Friday albeit late, and like we reported last year, everyone now thinks they can become chair and ultimately the Premier.
The chairman of the ANC and ultimately the Premier is like a provincial CEO and that comes with a lot of power as MECs and HoDs report to the Premier the thoughts of being in that position drive people mad and that leads to branch delegates being bribed by corruption money or even government jobs as said by Babalo Madikizela and Dr. Zamani Saul.
That’s why people fight tooth and nail to ensure that candidates win at all costs.
The easiest and most traceable way of stealing the conference is a manipulation of branch delegates and hoping the disgruntled members will not take the party to court but the opposite is true, two previous provincial conferences in 2012 and 2017 were declared unlawful and set aside because of manipulation.
It will be interesting to see how ANC deals with despites in Mangaung, Lejweleputswa, and Thabo Mofutsanyane without committing the same mistakes of 2012 and 2017.
Step UP SA News has an affidavit from an 87 years old lady who was registered to have participated in the Mangaung BBGM despite not being there and sadly, not being an ANC member.
A source parity to the IPC said those want to emerge have options available to steal the conference.
“Another option is to change voting delegates but that also is dangerous because it can be traced and easily challenged.
In the Lejweleputswa Regional Conference, we saw how ANC members who were legible to vote were locked outside and that conference has been challenged.”
On Wednesday, two days before the conference the IPC was locked in a meeting with the National Executive Council over nominations and according to sources Southern Sun branch as opposed to the opening of nomination boxes and even threatened to walk away.
After deliberations, they gave in and allowed the nomination boxes to be opened and they started with Mangaung and Fezile Dabi.
They all want to lead.
In the coming days we will look at how much each of the seven candidates spent on their campaigns because you can’t contest without spending tax papers money, stolen or otherwise.
The conference will start on Friday and we hope with little hope that it will start on time and there won’t be fights over credentials.
If you have news or tips please email us at news@stepupsanews.co.za or WhatsApp 0685000246
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