Carels to fill legislature seat after ANC unity talks

Hours after Antonio Carels withdrew his candidacy for the post of regional secretary, the ANC’s Dr WB Rubusana region said he would fill the vacancy in the provincial legislature left by his successor in the party.

During the ANC’s long-awaited fifth regional conference in East London at the weekend, Anele Lizo clinched the regional secretary’s job with 123 votes. His opponent, Mbasa Satyi, received the nod from 87 of the 213 voting delegates.

Lizo, who has served in the Eastern Cape legislature since 2024, now takes up the full-time role of ANC regional secretary.

The region’s chair and BCM mayor Princess Faku, who retained her position on an uncontested basis, announced during her closing remarks that the region wanted Carels to fill the vacancy left by Lizo.

The conference, which was initially expected to be held in May, was repeatedly delayed over disputes on how branch general meetings were being conducted.

Faku said: “Comrade Gee [Lizo] who’s just been elected as the regional secretary of the ANC, was a member of the provincial legislature. He sacrificed … we believe in his leadership.

“I want to declare that the position comrade Gee had will be filled by someone from Rubusana … comrade Carels must go and replace Gee in the provincial legislature.”

In the protracted runup to the conference, two factions, the Ilanga grouping led by Faku and Carels’ Imvula group, had battled it out.

Faku said: “There is no more Ilanga and Imvula. There’s only one ANC.”

She said she and Carels had talked things out and resolved to put the party first.

Carels, a member of the ANC for 22 years, said he was available to serve in any capacity the party chose.

“It took us a long time to complete the processes of the conference, but finally, we are here.

“Now, the conference has concluded its business … the chair was uncontested … to show a sign of unity, to show a sign that we can come together.”

He said all those who had contested for positions must now support the chosen leadership “because the ANC is going to contest 2026 local government elections, and how good it would be for the ANC to be united as it enters that campaign … to ensure that the ANC emerges victorious.

“That’s what triggered my conscience to withdraw under contestation. I’m not influenced by anybody.

“I withdrew because I am influenced by the fact that the ANC must be united.

“We had our discussions with the chair, and our talk was centered around how best can we manage this issue of contestation in the conference because it would be good for the ANC to have an uncontested conference and for the ANC to emerge out of that conference being united.

“We have also sorted out our own things. We are good friends, irrespective of us having had our differences.

“I think we will carry on with our friendship and I will carry also on with supporting the collective that has been elected by the membership of the ANC.”

The topic of unity and cohesion within the party was a stance echoed by many speakers.

However, outside the venue, many erstwhile Imvula faction members were left unsatisfied by the outcomes of the conference, with some claiming Carels had sold them out.

One BCM councillor said that the unity theme was nothing but “forced fake unity”.

Two other Imvula supporters said they had first heard of the unity talks between Faku and Carels during ANC provincial chair and premier Oscar Mabuyane’s speech.

Carels said: “I took decisions on the basis of saving the ANC and uniting the ANC.

“I didn’t betray anyone … I have served the region for the past five years now, being in the REC [regional executive committee] and being the regional secretary.

“I’m happy and grateful for those members in those different conferences for giving me an opportunity to form part of the collective and to be able to advance the national democratic revolution of the ANC.

“I will go back to my branch, work with the leadership of my branch and assist my branch with the experience I have as a former regional secretary in ensuring that it becomes a branch of the ANC that is in good standing.”

Lizo said that the party had tried its best to ensure that the conference sat despite all the obstacles that led to the delays.

He said the mandate of the conference was to rebuild and renew the ANC in the region.

“The first people who should be at the centre of making sure that we build unity in this region is us, the leadership, by making sure that we go to our comrades that have contested the conference and work with them.

“We know the skills that they possess; if it needs to be comrades of the REC that we must take some and infuse them in the sub-committees of the REC, then let it be.

“We will make sure that we lead with them even in the elections, because we are talking of comrades who have the skills of leading and experience in the movement that we will need for the 2026 local government elections,” Lizo said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the conference on Friday, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said: “I hope that with the sitting of the conference and beyond that the leadership will work together to build the metro.

“This is the only metro we control without opposition. It’s important that the region is strong [and] leaders are united.

“Disputes have been settled. It took some time, but finally we are here and that is what is important.”

DAILY DISPATCH