ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula is expected to come under scrutiny over his handling of the disputes emerging from the recent Johannesburg regional conference when the party’s national officials meet this week.
Mbalula is expected to present a full report to the officials, led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, which will detail what has transpired since the conference that elected Loyiso Masuku as regional chairperson over his ally Dada Morero.
Mbalula is expected to touch on allegations of election fraud, conflict of interest, improper handling of ballot boxes and the involvement of the police, among others.
The Sunday Times understands that at least three of the seven national officials, dubbed the “top seven”, have expressed to their colleagues their displeasure over Mbalula’s actions since the conference, especially the decision to involve the police in internal ANC matters.
Mbalula’s two deputies, Nomvula Mokonyane and Maropene Ramokgopa, as well as deputy president Paul Mashatile, are believed to have taken issue with how Mbalula handled disputes arising from the conference.
What broke the camel’s back, according to sources close to the senior ANC leaders, is what they describe as a “movie” that was on display on Sunday when the police, along with some ANC members, descended on a house in Pretoria in a raid where alleged ballot papers from the conference were discovered.
The house in question, according to some senior leaders, belongs to the elections agency appointed to run the conference.
Mbalula this week said the party had opened a case of fraud following the discovery of the ballot papers at the house, arguing that they were meant to be kept either at regional or provincial offices for at least six months.
So what happens with the ballot boxes after the elections? They must be kept in a safe place, not in bedrooms. They must be kept in a safe place; I can’t take ballot boxes to my house. And if that’s the case, there must be a cogent reason for that.
“So what happens with the ballot boxes after the elections? They must be kept in a safe place, not in bedrooms. They must be kept in a safe place; I can’t take ballot boxes to my house. And if that’s the case, there must be a cogent reason for that,” he said.
“And if they are opened and tampered with, there must be a cogent reason for that. I’m sure you saw yourself as somebody running with ballot boxes behind a house covered with a gown, something to sleep with; it means those ballots were in a bedroom.”
But a senior party member said this was not necessarily accurate, as the ballots are always kept by the elections agency and not at ANC offices.
“He [Mbalula] now brings up a new issue about the safekeeping of ballots, but they remain in the custody of the agency; that’s a misrepresentation of organisational processes. After the conference you only leave with the report of the elections,” said an insider.
A senior party leader questioned Mbalula’s involvement in regional disputes, saying these were supposed to be handled by the province and not Luthuli House.
“There’s just an overzealousness and distortion of organisational processes as well as the abuse of the state,” said the party leader.
“This is about how the ANC is attempting to rope in the police on its internal issues; it’s a problem. What the motive is remains to be seen.”
Those close to Mashatile said he was concerned that the Johannesburg conference was being treated differently from other regional conferences that have taken place.
“The DP [deputy president] believes that there has to be consistency in how matters are handled and that it’s concerning how this one conference is treated differently, including involving the police, because there are internal mechanisms on how to handle these issues,” said a source close to Mashatile.
Another ANC leader echoed Mashatile’s sentiments: “The police did something that cannot be done; simply put, the police acted on a wrong thing using the Electoral Act on an ANC process when the ANC has its own guidelines on how to handle disputes.”
Some believe a call will be made at the officials’ meeting, and in the national working committee (NWC), that Mbalula be hauled over the coals.
“The way forward is to discipline Mbalula, and Dada must go. You know Loyiso and the elected group had no intention of removing Dada as the mayor,” said a highly placed senior ANC leader.
“Mbalula is aware that the region and Gauteng as it stands will never pronounce him as the president.”
This party leader said there was clearly a concerted effort to have a rerun of the Johannesburg conference but questioned why this would be done when even more chaotic conferences such as Polokwane did not rerun.
“Dada can’t live with the fact that he lost. Why must we do a rerun based on the wrong processes… Why didn’t we do a rerun in Polokwane, where people were hitting each other with chairs? And we suppressed a report by Noxolo [Kiviet] that called for a rerun. Polokwane was a crime scene; nominations were being done while people were standing on their feet.”
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