The next three days are going to determine the future of Princess Faku’s mayorship of Buffalo City, as her party in the region finally sits to elect new leadership.
Faku is set to face strong contestation from a former ally and current senior manager in her office, Mbasa Satyi, to take over as ANC Dr WB Rubusana regional chair.
The party is sitting for its elective conference on Wednesday after several delays since May 2025.
For Faku, losing the conference comes with the risk of losing her mayoral chain before her first term ends in 2026.
This happened to her predecessor, Xola Pakati, when he fell out of favour with the regional ANC leadership led by Faku who emerged as regional chair in May 2022.
The long-delayed Dr WB Rubusana ANC regional conference is now scheduled to sit between Wednesday and Friday.
The possible contestation, expected to take place late on Wednesday or on Thursday, has been confirmed by a number of party insiders.
Both Faku and Satyi, once close allies, have emerged as frontrunners vying for the region’s chair seat.
As battle lines are drawn, Satyi has been officially unveiled as the new face for the Imvula faction, widely associated with ANC regional task team co-ordinator Antonio Carels, which will contest Faku’s Ilanga faction.
Satyi comes in as a late substitute for Vuyo Jali.
Satyi was once touted as a regional secretary candidate in Faku’s slate, but soon fell out of favour with his office boss, and was later replaced by Bhisho legislature MPL, Anele “Gee” Lizo in the Ilanga slate for the secretary position.
While Satyi had announced his intention to contest against Carels and possibly Lizo for the regional secretary’s position, party insiders confirm that negotiations between him and the Imvula faction leaders to join forces had been ongoing.
While Satyi could not be reached for comment on Tuesday, his chief lobbyist, Sinethemba Mashalaba, confirmed that Satyi would contest for the chair seat, on the Imvula slate.
He declinedto comment further, except to confirm that negotiations between the two parties, resulting in them joining hands against Faku, had been ongoing for some time.
According to party insiders, clandestine meeting on Monday evening confirmed the talks and saw Satyi being elevated as a chair candidate.
The decision, it is understood, has been officially communicated to Imvula conference delegates in a meeting outside East London late on Tuesday.
While Faku and her spokesperson, Bongani Fuzile, could not be reached for comment, some within her grouping confirmed her availability for contestation.
“Yes, she will be contesting for a second term in office, no doubt about that, and we are confident that we will emerge and she will be the one closing conference on Friday,” one of Faku’s lobbyists said.
Another of her backers said: “We have no choice but to contest and win.
“If we fail to do that, the executive mayor will be at risk of losing her deployment seat in council before her term even lapses, as we have a precedent on that.”
ANC provincial spokesperson Yanga Zicina said it was all systems go for the BCM elective conference at the East London City Hall.
This after disputes had been ironed out.
Zicina said just more than 200 voting delegates were expected to converge and elect the new ANC leadership in BCM.
While a number of insiders say the Faku faction has a slight edge to emerge victorious, some believe that she will have a serious contest against Satyi.
Jali, the Bhisho legislature’s deputy speaker and ANCYL provincial chair, was initially earmarked to contest against Faku as the face of the Imvula faction, but his name seems to have fallen by the way.
“In our Monday meeting, there were talks that Jali should instead contest as Mbasa’s deputy, but that idea fell through as we opted for a female candidate in the deputy chair position,” one Imvula insider said.
Jali and Carels also could not be reached for comment.
However, a senior regional leader who attended the Monday meeting said: “There were also suggestions of unity which had previously been bandied around, where some in the province had wanted Princess and Antonio to smoke a peace pipe, stand together, and maintain their status quo as regional chair and secretary, respectively.
“However, that did not stick with us, as we said we would rather contest each other.”
A surprise third contender, former Amathole regional ANC secretary Joe Sotshana, is also said to have ambitions for the chair position.
Those backing him said his possible candidacy “has a backing from some national ANC leaders” they did not name.
On Tuesday, Sotshana opted to “reserve my comment on the matter”.
Some of Sotshana’s backers confirmed later in the day that they were contemplating going to court to interdict the elective conference.
According to slates doing the rounds, BCM mayoral committee members Sixoliwe Ntsasela for Imvula and Malibongwe Mfazwe for Ilanga are set to contest the deputy chair position, while Carels and Lizo will battle it out for the regional secretary position.
ANC councillor Simbongile “Pitso” Gulwa Imvula’s Bongiwe Saul are vying for for the deputy secretary seat, while Siya Mgijima for Imvula and Ilanga’s Yomelela Tyali are contesting the regional treasury seat.
Daily Dispatch
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