ANC conference

Only 60% of branches may attend ANC conference

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Independent Newspapers

ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile File photo: Neil Baynes

Cape Town -

Two out of every five ANC branches in Cape Town are excluded from selecting the party’s candidates for next year’s provincial and national elections.

In other regions in the province, less than half of branches are in good standing and will attend next month’s provincial list conference.

ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile confirmed on Thursday that 65 out of 111 branches in its Dullah Omar region were in good standing and would be allowed to send delegates and make nominations in the run-up to the conference.

The party conducted an audit of all 360 branches in the province, but only 189 branches were in good standing and had 100 or more members to qualify for the nomination process.

To date, names such as former churchman turned businessman Chris Nissen, the provincial head of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Hishaam Mohamed, and farm strike leader Nosey Pieterse were among those on nomination lists as candidates to the Western Cape Provincial Legislature.

Desmond Stevens, acting deputy director-general for fisheries in the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, has also been mentioned by some branches.

The Cape Times understands Marius Fransman tops most nomination lists for the province, while most branches included names of supporters of both Fransman and ANC heavyweight Mcebisi Skwatsha. A number of ANC members said it’s expected that Skwatsha, along with former ANC premier Lynne Brown, will join the national Parliament next year.

Both declined to comment on the nominations on Thursday.

Branches only have until Monday to call meetings and send their nominations to the provincial ANC offices.

Only half of the 189 branches had held meetings by the beginning of this week.

The province’s biggest branch in Cape Town, ward 40 in Gugulethu, is to meet on Saturday to decide who to nominate.

The branch has 1 496 members and will send 19 delegates to the list conference.

This is the branch in which former ANC councillor Andile Lili and Loyiso Nkohla have large support. The second-largest branch in Cape Town is in Khayelitsha, ward 87.

Mjongile said some regions like the southern Cape had fewer branches because of infighting among the regional executive committees (REC).

The ANC’s provincial executive committee stripped the southern Cape REC of all its powers last month and appointed ANC deputy provincial secretary Maurencia Gillion to assist. From this region, 40 of the 77 branches will attend the conference in Cape Town on October 19.