North West West premier Bushy Maape, Human Settlements MEC Nono Maloyi and former chairperson Supra Mahumapelo are among seven ANC members who are vying for the powerful position of provincial party chairperson.
This was confirmed by ANC interim provincial committee (IPC) convenor Hlomani Chauke, when he briefed the media last night about the state of readiness for the provincial conference, which started in Rustenburg on Friday.
Other candidates include former mayor of Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality Themba Gwabeni, MEC for Economic Development Kenetswe Mosenogi and Finance MEC Motlalepula Rosho.
“Indeed we have seven candidates. These are not candidates of slates. All of them were elected by branches to lead the ANC. There is nothing wrong with that, it shows that people are available to lead. This is different to what happened in KwaZulu-Natal where there were five groupings supporting their individual slates,” Chauke said.
Despite the North West provincial conference having been postponed three times over unresolved branch nomination disputes, accusations of manipulation of internal processes, and the Mahikeng High Court ruling against the IPC, Chauke said it was now all systems go.
“The provincial and national dispute resolution committee have concluded all related dispute resolution processes and this conference will convene without any of the disputes or appeals unresolved. We are confident that the conference will achieve all its intended objectives. We are confident that the 9th provincial conference will be a resounding success,” he added.
The high-stakes provincial elective conference started on shaky ground after the High Court in Mahikeng ruled against the participation of 20 IPC members in the voting process.
Affected IPC members included five of the seven chairperson candidates, excluding Mahumapelo and Gwabeni.
ANC deputy president David Mabuza is expected to officially open the conference this afternoon.
Pretoria News