ANC top brass will return to Western Cape to tackle divisions
20 July 2017
Cape Town – The status quo will remain in the Western Cape ANC, for now, amid growing disunity and factional battles plaguing the party's provincial leadership.
The ANC's National Working Committee (NWC) had to be flown into the province over the weekend to get to the bottom of the discord between some of the province's regional and provincial leaders.
ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa told News24 on Wednesday that the leadership would have to return to the province this coming weekend, as there was still much to discuss before the party's top officials could make recommendations.
"That meeting was adjourned because it could not conclude all its business," Kodwa said.
"It will continue this coming weekend, over two days, to make sure that we discuss everything in the Western Cape."
As for the provincial executive committee's (PEC) contentious decision to disband the Dullah Omar (Cape Town) regional leadership, Kodwa said that that decision was at the heart of the discussions.
"The status quo remains until further discussions, which will answer that question."
The national delegation comprised the ANC's top six, including President Jacob Zuma and deputy Cyril Ramaphosa, along with high-ranking ANC members and ministers, such as Police Minister Fikile Mbalula and chief whip Jackson Mthembu.
Kodwa said the party's view was that it must work towards the 2019 general elections.
It, therefore, did not want to leave any issues off the table in the beleaguered Western Cape.
Officials also did not want to have to come back for a third meeting.
"We want to leave a very oiled machinery ready for 2019," he said.
The NWC would meet with the PEC and regions again on Sunday and Monday. They would then be ready to make recommendations at the next national executive committee sitting in late August.
The NWC would also visit other provinces, which have faced similar challenges in the run-up to the party's elective conference in December, including KwaZulu-Natal.
Two sources, with knowledge of the discussions this past weekend, told News24 on Wednesday that the various accounts of the past weeks' events inevitably contradict each other.
The PEC wanted disciplinary measures instituted against regional leaders who broke ranks and held an impromptu press conference on June 25, before the party's national policy conference.
Regions also distanced themselves from regional leaders who appeared on the Guptas’ ANN7 news network that same weekend, without authorisation.
The majority of the PEC was still opposing calls for its own disbandment, while discussions were divided on the disbandment of the Cape Town metro, where Zuma is known to have much support.
Affected leaders in the metro declined to speak to News24, pending the national leadership's work into the issues.
