The ANC in the Eastern Cape is advocating for women candidates to be elected to the party’s influential secretary-general’s office at its national elective conference in mid-December.
The Eastern Cape ANC bosses, after their provincial executive committee (PEC) meeting on Sunday, resolved to lobby other provinces to support their view that the party should have female candidates for both the secretary-general (SG) and deputy SG positions.
This view, if it gains traction in other provinces, would result in a woman occupying the critical SG position for the first time in the history of the 110-year-old organisation, the ANC’s provincial head of communication, Gift Ngqondi, said.
On Tuesday, Ngqondi said the party in the province had yet to decide which particular candidate should be in the running to take over from the suspended Ace Magashule.
“We do not have a name yet, but we are resolute that we want to lobby for the office of the secretary-general to be occupied by women.
“We will be lobbying other provinces for both the SG and DSG to be women, and if it does happen, it would be history in the ANC that such critical office is occupied by female comrades.
“Over the years, we have had women such as Thenjiwe Mtintso, Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele, Jessie Duarte and Thandi Modise occupying the deputy secretary-general position.
“We are saying it’s high time we have a female comrade in that office, which is the engine of the organisation,” Ngqondi said.
The weekend PEC meeting also officially endorsed provincial ANC chair Oscar Mabuyane as the Eastern Cape ANC’s preferred candidate to deputise for Cyril Ramaphosa, its presidential choice.
Mabuyane is set to face some serious competition because a number of prominent national ANC leaders have been pitted as possible deputies.
Heavyweights such as co-operative governance minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, deputy president David Mabuza, former health minister Zweli Mkhize, defence and military veterans minister Thandi Modise and justice minister Ronald Lamola are some of those touted to take over as ANC deputy president, albeit on different slates.
Ramaphosa might also face a challenge for his position as ANC president from Dlamini-Zuma, Mabuza, Mkhize and Magashule.
The province, which will send the second-largest number of delegates to the conference after KwaZulu-Natal, also wants Gwede Mantashe to be retained as the party’s national chair.
“We strongly believe that comrade Mabuyane will bring a diverse set of skills that will assist in the renewal of the ANC,” Ngqondi said.
“While the PEC also resolved as part of continuity and change to support the re-election of comrade Mantashe as the national chairperson of the ANC, our meeting resolved to engage other provinces on other names for the positions in the national [top six] officials.”
The province confirmed its support for Ramaphosa for a second term as ANC president, while it sprang to his defence over what it said were persistent attacks.
Ngqondi said the weekend meeting had “noted with utter disgust, the persistent and well-calculated attacks on the persona of the ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa.
“These attacks are a collaboration of the ANC internal and external forces who are doing all in their power to avoid consequences for their nefarious actions.
“We are clear that at the base of this offensive against Comrade Ramaphosa is a clear objective to divide and ultimately dislodge the ANC as the leader of our people and from the government,” he said.
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