The ANC flag.Picture: FILE
Cape Town- Neglect from the Cyril Ramaphosa faction has rendered the Western Cape open to persuasion, with political bigwigs descending upon the DA-run province.
First, it was former president Jacob Zuma, who urged supporters at a Philippi church to correct what had gone wrong at the 2017 Nasrec conference, and ANC treasurer general Paul Mashatile, who delivered the keynote address at a memorial lecture in Athlone — all in one weekend.
Mashatile is also the party’s acting secretary-general and deputy secretary. Human Settlements minister Mmamoloko Kubayi was also among those visiting the Western Cape recently in an attempt to drum up support ahead of the 55th ANC conference next month.
An analyst said this could be attributed to Ramaphosa and his group’s neglect of the Western Cape.
The province is considered to be in the bottom two provinces along with the Northern Cape. It is also among the provinces expected to send a smaller delegation of just fewer than 300 delegates.
According to the audited branch nominations, most branches in the Western Cape had supported Ramaphosa's bid for a second term and had nominated him.
The top six nominations were unveiled this week, and Mashatile was among those who made the cut in the race for deputy president.
But a senior ANC member in the Western Cape warned that, should the leaders vying for top positions in the ANC ignore the Western Cape, the party may as well prepare to lose control of other provinces.
Faiez Jacobs, an ANC MP and National Executive Committee candidate, said it was clear that branches in the Western Cape had decided they would not be dictated to by older comrades or groupings.
"Branches are using this time to say, ‘we want a younger group of leaders to emerge or come through.’ This issue of women, youth, and middle age is dominating because of the experience," Jacobs said.
Jacobs said the province was also getting attention because of its unique demographics.
"We also have demographics that are different from other parts of the country; the national minority is a local majority here in the Western Cape," Jacobs said.
Jacobs said the plan was to highlight the Western Cape’s experience in opposition politics for the last 20 years.
"The one thing that we can teach our colleagues is that if we don’t unite, if we don’t serve our people, and continue to be corrupt, then the reactionary forces like the DA will continue to divide and create fear," Jacobs said.
The ANC in the Western Cape is yet to hold a provincial congress and elect a new leadership since former leader Marius Fransman was booted out of the party six years ago. The ANC in the Western Cape has also not announced its preferred candidates.
Political analyst Lukhanyo Vangqa said the Western Cape had become a relatively important political playground.
"This is because it has been neglected by the Ramaphosa faction; they haven't spent enough time organising the province and consolidating power, and everyone is seeing an opportunity."
"You can’t tell who is in charge of this province like you can with other provinces. The Ramaphosa faction has left the province too open," Vangqa said.
Another analyst, Professor Andre Duvenhage, said the Western Cape was an area of huge influence.
"The Western Cape may not have the numbers when it comes to the conference, but we have parliament there, the political elites are there, and there is an outstanding conference," Duvenhage said.
He described the Western Cape as an "excellent playing field" for promoting candidacy.
"It is because of this that the Western Cape is probably the best place to be," Duvenhage said.