Pretoria - Newly elected Mpumalanga ANC chairperson Mandla Ndlovu says his provincial executive committee (PEC) has no plans to recall Premier Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane, who failed to make it to the province’s top five after the recently concluded conference.
However, he insisted that it was up to the ANC to decide the premier’s future, even though he personally would not support her axing, just as he did not support former president Thabo Mbeki’s recalling by the national executive committee (NEC).
This was after former president Jacob Zuma took over the party in Polokwane. Mbeki was recalled with seven months left of his presidency, which saw acting president Kgalema Motlante replacing him, after losing the party leadership to Zuma in 2007.
Ndlovu, who has replaced Deputy President David “DD” Mabuza as the most powerful politician in Mpumalanga, said Mtsweni-Tsipane would be allowed to serve the rest of her term until 2024.
Ndlovu said: “The premier (Motsweni-Tsipane) will continue to do her work until her term of office ends. There has been no discussions about me or anyone becoming premier. I was not in support of what happened in 2008 when comrade Mbeki was recalled... and I won’t support that now. But like it was up to the ANC to recall Mbeki, it’s up to the ANC now. I just don’t support it.”
Ndlovu was speaking to the media on Monday after the party’s 13th elective conference that took place at the Witbank Dam in Emalahleni this past weekend.
He defeated Lucky Ndinisa, who was provincial secretary during Mabuza’s tenure as provincial chairperson, by 162 votes.
Mtsweni-Tsipane had withdrawn from the race before nominations started, apparently after realising she did not have enough support to make the threshold.
Despite some predictions from party insiders that the PEC would get rid of Mtsweni-Tsipane, Ndlovu vowed to maintain continuity and stability within the province and keep the current premier at the helm.
Newly elected provincial ANC leaders tend to recall premiers who fail to be elected as chairperson or at least one of the top five officials. Recent examples include the recalling of former KwaZulu-Natal premier Senzo Mchunu, who was replaced by Willies Mchunu after Sihle Zikalala was elected as provincial chairperson.
Former Eastern Cape premier Phumullo Masualle met the same fate after he was defeated by current ANC provincial chairperson Oscar Mabuyane.
Ndlovu reiterated President Cyril Ramaphosa's stance on the renewal of the ANC and laid out his plans and priorities.
Ramaphosa closed the Mpumalanga provincial conference on Sunday.
“We support the renewal programme. When we concluded last year’s elections we realised that people walked away from us because some of our members started to be self-serving. They actually believed that we were not prioritising them.
“So we are planning to conduct political education for our people to say that when people join the ANC, they would not be joining it for their own gain, but for serving the people of Mpumalanga,” said Ndlovu.
He said that the party would also prioritise the economy, as the rate of unemployment was too high. He also called on ANC members to self introspect on how to serve the party.
“It's only a united ANC that can build this province. We need to educate our people politically,” he said.
The conference was marred by court cases, with some disgruntled members attempting to interdict the conference because they believed the PEC should have not been disbanded by the National Working Committee (NWC).
The province’s leadership was dissolved In February because its term had lapsed.
Another group has recently also approached the courts in a bid to have the conference declared unconstitutional after claims that some branches that took part at the conference were not in good standing.
“We are discouraging our members to subscribe to factions. People must not deal with issues on their own. Our members must always come to the ANC office if there would be problems. We have challenges like any other organisation but need to accept the outcome of the province and move on,” Ndlovu said.
When asked about the election of double murder accused Mandla Msibi as provincial treasurer, Ndlovu said that branches voted for their preferred candidate as per the guidelines of the ANC.
“There are guidelines developed by the ANC and in the main we allow branches to nominate officials. In our branches there are those who prioritise talent rather than morality.
“It’s branches that nominated comrade Mandla. I did not appoint comrade Mandla to be on my slate,” Ndlovu said.
Msibi has been charged with double murder and attempted murder after a shooting incident in Mbombela in August last year.
He is out on bail.
Pretoria News