Fezile Dabi Endorses Magashule for ANC Chairpersonship

ANC branches in the region have described the premier as a tried and tested leader

Almost all of the ANC branches in the Fezile Dabi region have nominated Premier Ace Magashule to be the provincial chairperson of the ANC in the Free State.

His re-election, expected to take place at the ANC provincial conference which starts today at the Phakisa Raceway in Welkom, will effectively make him the longest serving and most popular provincial chairperson of the ruling party in the post-apartheid era.

The Weekly can reveal that an overwhelming majority of ANC branches in Fezile Dabi have nominated Magashule and the rest of the top six that were elected at the provincial elective conference in Parys last year.

It includes Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality mayor, Thabo Manyoni, who was elected deputy provincial chairperson, William Bulwane as the secretary, agriculture MEC, Mamiki Qabathe as deputy secretary and economic development, tourism and environmental affairs, Mosebenzi Zwane, as provincial treasurer.

“Magashule has been nominated to lead the ANC in Free State for more than a decade and he is still trusted to continue,” said one of the ANC members in the region, who preferred to remain anonymous.

Leading up to the conference, Magashule has been a target of a smear campaign by the party’s ailing faction, Regime Change, which was hell-bent on the dividing the party structures in the region.

Regime Change leaders such as Mpho Ramakatsa teamed up with rogue ANC Youth League members to stage marches where they accused Magashule, Manyoni and education MEC and ANC provincial task team co-convener, Tate Makgoe, of pushing the merger of the Metsimaholo and Ngwathe local municipalities. They also accused Metsimaholo Local Municipality mayor, Brutus Mahlaku of being a stooge of Magashule’s, adding that he was corrupt.

Magashule has in the past lashed out at people who disrupt ANC meetings through violent means, and declared his readiness to lead the ANC if branches nominate him.

“This ANC is not theirs but of the branches. We must not allow rogue elements to hijack it. I will stand for as long as the members of the ANC want me to lead them. These people act as if they are disciplined cadres of this movement, but we know that they are not.”

Last year Magashule told The Weekly that there were ill-disciplined uMkhonto we Sizwe members who wanted to destabilise the ANC in the province.

“The ANC will remain the organisation of the poor even after we have died. Those fighting to be in the ANCs leadership positions without following all the prescribed procedures of the party are jeopardising the culture of the ANC of Mandela, Tambo and Sisulu. They prove that even if they occupy the positions they won’t adhere to the policies of this movement.

Mandela together with Tambo and Sisulu remained loyal to this movement and they urged members to be disciplined.”