The ANC has set up a team of senior leaders to investigate allegations of vote-rigging and related irregularities at the three Limpopo regional conferences that were held in May.
The team, led by ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Noxolo Kiviet, will respond to a flood of complaints from aggrieved members in the Vhembe, Norman Mashabane and Peter Mokaba districts.
“That team is going to listen to them. There are people who have written letters to the ANC, so the ANC must listen to its members. But it doesn’t nullify the conferences. It’s a committee led by Kiviet,” said a senior ANC leader.
That team is going to listen to them. There are people who have written letters to the ANC, so the ANC must listen to its members. But it doesn’t nullify the conferences. It’s a committee led by Kiviet.
“They are going to listen to them but the conferences stay, those conferences are staying, they are there.”
Kiviet’s team will also probe the activities of other senior NEC members, including head of organising Mdu Manana, who had been deployed to Limpopo to help facilitate the now-disputed regional conferences.
At the Peter Mokaba regional conference last week, where John Mpe was re-elected as regional chair, there was pushing and shoving as delegates claimed branches had been allowed to take part in the voting despite being disqualified.
In Vhembe, some of the regional task team members lodged a court application to halt the conference, arguing that disputes had not been adequately processed. The case was struck off the roll.
The decision to set up Kiviet’s team is believed to have been taken by the ANC national working committee this week.
The team is expected to present its findings and recommendations to the NEC by the end of the month.
“We are going to get a report at the NEC... We’ll see what happens," the ANC source said.
Tshitereke Matibe, the Limpopo MEC for tourism, environment & development, was re-elected as chair in the Vhembe region, while regional heavyweight Rudzani Ludere was ousted as secretary.
Luthuli House had deployed a team of NEC members led by Manana to run the Vhembe conference — an unprecedented move that was seen as an attempt to usurp the role of Ludere. As regional secretary, he would have been in charge of registering delegates.
Some of the letters of complaint that have been sent to both the ANC provincial office and Luthuli House are said to have raised concern with the NEC teams that were deployed to the regional conferences.
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