Grassroots+members+turf+out+Rasool,+BDay+05-06-13

Business Day 13 June 2005
=Defiant grassroots members turf out Rasool in early sign of rebellion within the ANC=


 * Linda Ensor, Political Correspondent**

CAPE TOWN — Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool, an ally of President Thabo Mbeki, was ousted as African National Congress (ANC) chairman in the province at the weekend in what appears to be a growing rebelliousness in party structures against its national leadership.

This rebellion is likely to be fomented over the coming weeks in what will be a bitter reaction among party rank and file to Mbeki’s expected sacking of his deputy, Jacob Zuma.

Rasool, pictured right, lost to ANC veteran and MP James Ngculu at the party’s provincial conference in Cape Town.

The depth of the division has raised fears within the party that its success in the next local government election — expected early next year — as well as its control of the Cape Town metropolitan government could be jeopardised.

The election battle between Rasool and Ngculu left the party in what Rasool has described as a “shocking” state of disunity and in need of radical reorganisation.

Losing the leadership of the party after seven years at the helm will mean that Rasool — appointed premier by Mbeki last year — and his provincial cabinet could find themselves under the tight control of the ANC’s provincial executive committee.

The failure of the provincial government to account to the party and Rasool’s alleged failure to heal the deep divisions in the party were two major complaints about his leadership.

With Rasool having been dealt a humiliating snub, attention will turn to another close Mbeki ally, Mpumalanga premier Thabang Makwetla, to see how he performs in the party’s provincial conference next weekend.

Mpumalanga is said to be torn between pro-Mbeki and pro- Zuma factions.

If Makwetla loses his challenge next weekend for chairmanship of the party in the province to the incumbent, Fish Mahlalela, who is also roads and transport MEC, the province is likely to back Zuma, who faces the sack from Mbeki’s cabinet over his “generally corrupt relationship” with convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik.

Ngculu has been with the ANC for about 30 years, serving with Umkhonto we Sizwe in exile and formerly holding the positions of ANC provincial secretary and chairman of Parliament’s health portfolio committee.

Ngculu said the ANC in the province was in need of renewal. Unity needed to be strengthened and the party’s branch structures needed to be brought more tightly into the organisation.

The Ngculu faction won the five top provincial executive posts with Randall van den Heever becoming deputy chairman, transport and public works MEC Mcebisi Skwatsha retaining his position as provincial secretary, former organising secretary Max Ozinsky becoming deputy secretary, and finance MEC Lynne Brown retaining the position of treasurer.

Ousted members of the provincial executive committee left the conference in disbelief at the overwhelming rout.

Ngculu won with 274 votes to Rasool’s 259. Allegations of fraud arose as there were 10 more votes than voting delegates but the conference decided to accept these additions and allow dissatisfied members to lodge a complaint with ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe.

The 10 votes would not have been decisive in a Rasool victory.

Rasool said he was “disappointed” but not “devastated” by his loss and he would work harder as premier to promote unity in the province and the ANC. He would reflect on where he had failed as leader but noted that during the seven years he was provincial chairman he had taken the ANC from a 33% opposition party in the provincial legislature to one with 46% of the vote and with control of the government.

Insiders in the party said disunity and conflict ran deep, with opposing factions sitting on different sides of the conference hall, instead of being grouped into branches as was normally the case. The factionalism was more over leadership, power and personalities than principles, policies or strategies, they said.


 * From: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A55861**



Business Day, 13 June 2005
=Shock win reveals cracks in ANC’s edifice=


 * Linda Ensor, Political Correspondent**

THE extent of the disunity within the African National Congress (ANC) in Western Cape was clear from the different expressions on the faces of delegates leaving the provincial conference at the weekend.

There was jubilation and a flushed sense of victory among supporters of newly elected chairman James Ngculu, while those of ousted chairman Ebrahim Rasool — who retains his position as Western Cape premier — left in disbelief. They had been well and truly routed.

The divisions, after months of intense lobbying and politicking, go deeper than facial expressions, however, and both sides are cognisant of the need to heal them and to create a united front to wage an effective fight in the upcoming municipal elections.

The divisions appeared to cut across racial groups and related more to leadership issues and the kind of strategies to adopt to heal the deep racial divides within Western Cape.

“We must get it right before the local government elections,” Rasool said.

Ngculu said the new leadership would energise its branches and take the party to new heights.

“The central structure of the ANC — the branch and the members — must begin to feel an essential part of the ANC. Then all other problems will sort themselves out,” he said.

Much work will be required to retain the confidence of apathetic and angry voters dissatisfied with the slow pace of delivery.

Later Rasool was to say that he was deeply shocked by the depth of the divisions.

The ruling party’s national executive committee (NEC) has also been concerned at the disunity.

An array of NEC members — ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, South African Communist Party deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin and Tony Yengeni — were used in the run-up to the conference to smooth over the conflicts.

The involvement of the NEC became controversial last week when Skweyiya held a press conference to express the NEC’s preference that the existing party leadership under the experienced Rasool be retained in the interests of unity and continuity.

He said that the ANC preferred one person to hold both positions of party leader and premier.

Strong protests to ANC head office forced him to retract the statement the following day.

Lekota denied that the NEC had expressed support for any candidate and Ngculu supporters alleged that Rasool had called in Skweyiya to lobby for him.

While Ngculu would not be drawn into criticism of Rasool, his supporters complained that Rasool and his provincial government had failed to adequately account to party structures and that Rasool had bypassed the party’s decision-making processes.

“The party was under the control of the provincial government,” one ANC member said.

Rasool said he did not believe Ngculu would introduce fundamental changes in the ruling party’s approach.

“The ANC does not depend on personalities,” he said. “It has principles, policies and strategies and these will not change. The changes may be stylistic but not fundamental,” Rasool said.


 * From: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A55863**