Cape Town - As the 700 delegates to the ANC’s three-day provincial elective conference gather at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) this morning, thoughts of whether they can achieve the conference theme of “rebuilding and renewal” and be a viable force in the Province will be on their minds.
A political analyst has cast doubts on whether, after being dysfunctional in the Western Cape for more than six years, the party’s challenges of factionalism and divisions can be overcome in time for the 2024 election.
Political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said it was still early days before it could be said for certain that the party would be rebuilt and renewed in time for 2024.
He said that the party had faced a number of internal challenges which had caused conflicts and rifts along racial lines in the province and these could affect plans to renew and rebuild the party among communities in the province.
As for the party’s hopes with regard to winning back the coloured community’s support, Breakfast said: “There have been questions about why certain communities are not reflected or represented in the party’s leadership line up.”
The party’s own discussion documents for the conference, released on Wednesday, admit that contesting on racial lines in the past and the notion of a “swart gevaar” cost them the province.
The document, titled “Patterns of the Western Cape Voter”, said: “These racial stereotypes and faultlines have served as a guide for many political parties on what actions to take and how to campaign for electoral power.
“The ANC and the NNP, for example, put coloured candidates for premiership in the 1999 elections under the assumption that this choice reflected the Province’s political reality.
“There were also a number of high defections from NNP to ANC in an effort to contest for the crucial coloured vote. Over the years, this has remained the case.”
The document said that the decision to place Ebrahim Rasool on the ANC ticket was also driven by this desire to make inroads in coloured communities.
“The same applied to Cope choosing Allan Boesak as their premier candidate, which many thought was a significant blow to the ANC as Boesak remained very popular in the coloured community.”
Breakfast said another challenge facing the ANC in the province was the fact that it had a perceived leadership vacuum since the 2016 downfall of former provincial chairperson Marius Fransman following sexual harassment charges, which were later dropped.
“The party has for some years been perceived not to have a leader in the province, and having no leadership means a poor electoral performance.
“I don’t think they will overcome these issues quickly as they are deep rooted and cover a long period of time,” Breakfast said.
Briefing the media ahead of this weekend’s conference ANC Western Cape policy head and MPL Nomi Nkondlo was mum when questioned about the candidates whose names were being put forward for elective positions at the conference.
This is despite ANC legislature caucus leader Cameron Dugmore having said he was in the running to lead the province during a recent interview on Newzroom Afrika 405.
Nkondlo said the process to nominate candidates had not been finalised and nominees would only be revealed today.
On the internal challenges, Nkondlo said the ANC was hoping to confront these challenges, which had placed the ANC in this province in its weakest position in more than a decade.
Nkondlo also said: “The delegates will also have an opportunity to discuss what has become cancerous within the organisation; the influence of money in our politics.”
The discussions at the conference will also include a paper on the political economy which will look into how the question of spatial justice, economic inequality and separate developments can be confronted and dealt with.
Another discussion document deals with the voting patterns of the Western Cape voter and what issues are top priority for voters, informed by research and surveys.