Hundreds of disgruntled ANC members protested yesterday outside the party’s Eastern Cape headquarters, demanding the upcoming Buffalo City regional conference be shelved.
Party bosses locked the gates to Calata House in King William’s Town after more than 10 taxis ferrying about 400 protesters carrying placards were offloaded just after 11am yesterday.
Protest convenor Silumko Bushula of the Notshaka Mgabela branch in BCM’s ward 16 said they had arranged with the ANC’s national office that someone receive their memorandum at Calata House yesterday.
In it, Bushula said, members complain about backdating of membership forms, gate-keeping, bulk membership buying and “total disregard of ANC guidelines”.
The protesters singled out ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane and suspended BCM regional secretary Phumlani Mkolo as being behind divisions in the region.
It is the third protest in the region in three months. The first one, to the ANC regional BCM office, was led by former youth league leader Ayanda Matiti.
The second march, also led by Matiti, targeted First National Bank, which has been accused of being central to membership manipulation at the Mdantsane branch.
The Saturday Dispatch reported last week that not a single branch of the 35 going to conference had nominated Matiti and endorsed his ambition to become regional chairman.
The branches have all nominated Xola Pakati as regional chairman, a lineup that endorses Mkolo to serve a second term as regional secretary.
However, BCM Ward 30 branch secretary Mbulelo Bhidi said the outcomes had been obtained through fraud.
Bhidi, among the protesters, claimed that legitimate members’ forms had been “stolen” in his branch and replaced by those who had stood as independent candidates against the ANC in 2011 and lost.
Evelyn Majiki, 89, of Duncan Village, said she had decided to join yesterday’s protest after noting that things had “drastically changed for the worse in the ANC”.
She said in her branch there were “parallel structures”, with the one recognised by the majority being disregarded by the BCM regional and provincial executive committees (REC and PEC).
“Things are not the same in the party. We now have two ANCs and that is wrong. We are here to plead with leadership to return things back to normal,” said Majiki.
Another pensioner, Nomatu Mqolo, 82, said: “We cannot just fold our arms while these children are messing the organisation of Nelson Mandela.”
Bushula said they were at Calata House to hand over the memorandum to the national leaders because they had lost all confidence in the provincial structure.
He accused the PEC of working in cahoots with their rival faction in the party.
At the time of writing yesterday, the protesters were still toyi-toyiing on the streets. Several police cars drove onto the premises as police met with party bosses.
Some protesters held placards stating that next week’s conference would not have their support without reports on disputes lodged with deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte over six months ago.
Some of the disputes reported to the Duarte-led national appeals committee were those of ANC branches in which some members allegedly benefited from a backdating scam of bank membership forms.
The scam allegedly saw members taking part in an elective branch meeting when they would not have qualified to do so.
This was despite Mabuyane committing in a Dispatch report last weekend that none of those implicated in the scam would be allowed to take part in next week’s elective conference.
Mabuyane was not available for comment yesterday.
Similar disputes have also been lodged in OR Tambo and Joe Gqabi regions, where elective conferences have been held already.
The provincial working committee (PWC) decided on Monday to forward the OR Tambo and Joe Gqabi disputes to the national head office in Luthuli House.
“Both the outcomes of these conferences are disputed by branches. The PEC has requested the disputes be handled by the national office of the secretary-general.
“As we speak, processes to look into these disputes have started already,” Mabuyane said.
He said the PWC took a resolution that the outcomes of both elective conferences “be endorsed pending the outcome of disputes.
“The PWC appeals to branches from these regions to relax and allow the process of appeal to unfold smoothly until its logical conclusion,” Mabuyane added.
Third protest for ANC faction
Hundreds of disgruntled ANC members protested yesterday outside the party’s Eastern Cape headquarters, demanding the upcoming Buffalo City regional conference be shelved.
Party bosses locked the gates to Calata House in King William’s Town after more than 10 taxis ferrying about 400 protesters carrying placards were offloaded just after 11am yesterday.
Protest convenor Silumko Bushula of the Notshaka Mgabela branch in BCM’s ward 16 said they had arranged with the ANC’s national office that someone receive their memorandum at Calata House yesterday.
In it, Bushula said, members complain about backdating of membership forms, gate-keeping, bulk membership buying and “total disregard of ANC guidelines”.
The protesters singled out ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane and suspended BCM regional secretary Phumlani Mkolo as being behind divisions in the region.
It is the third protest in the region in three months. The first one, to the ANC regional BCM office, was led by former youth league leader Ayanda Matiti.
The second march, also led by Matiti, targeted First National Bank, which has been accused of being central to membership manipulation at the Mdantsane branch.
The Saturday Dispatch reported last week that not a single branch of the 35 going to conference had nominated Matiti and endorsed his ambition to become regional chairman.
The branches have all nominated Xola Pakati as regional chairman, a lineup that endorses Mkolo to serve a second term as regional secretary.
However, BCM Ward 30 branch secretary Mbulelo Bhidi said the outcomes had been obtained through fraud.
Bhidi, among the protesters, claimed that legitimate members’ forms had been “stolen” in his branch and replaced by those who had stood as independent candidates against the ANC in 2011 and lost.
Evelyn Majiki, 89, of Duncan Village, said she had decided to join yesterday’s protest after noting that things had “drastically changed for the worse in the ANC”.
She said in her branch there were “parallel structures”, with the one recognised by the majority being disregarded by the BCM regional and provincial executive committees (REC and PEC).
“Things are not the same in the party. We now have two ANCs and that is wrong. We are here to plead with leadership to return things back to normal,” said Majiki.
Another pensioner, Nomatu Mqolo, 82, said: “We cannot just fold our arms while these children are messing the organisation of Nelson Mandela.”
Bushula said they were at Calata House to hand over the memorandum to the national leaders because they had lost all confidence in the provincial structure.
He accused the PEC of working in cahoots with their rival faction in the party.
At the time of writing yesterday, the protesters were still toyi-toyiing on the streets. Several police cars drove onto the premises as police met with party bosses.
Some protesters held placards stating that next week’s conference would not have their support without reports on disputes lodged with deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte over six months ago.
Some of the disputes reported to the Duarte-led national appeals committee were those of ANC branches in which some members allegedly benefited from a backdating scam of bank membership forms.
The scam allegedly saw members taking part in an elective branch meeting when they would not have qualified to do so.
This was despite Mabuyane committing in a Dispatch report last weekend that none of those implicated in the scam would be allowed to take part in next week’s elective conference.
Mabuyane was not available for comment yesterday.
Similar disputes have also been lodged in OR Tambo and Joe Gqabi regions, where elective conferences have been held already.
The provincial working committee (PWC) decided on Monday to forward the OR Tambo and Joe Gqabi disputes to the national head office in Luthuli House.
“Both the outcomes of these conferences are disputed by branches. The PEC has requested the disputes be handled by the national office of the secretary-general.
“As we speak, processes to look into these disputes have started already,” Mabuyane said.
He said the PWC took a resolution that the outcomes of both elective conferences “be endorsed pending the outcome of disputes.
“The PWC appeals to branches from these regions to relax and allow the process of appeal to unfold smoothly until its logical conclusion,” Mabuyane added.
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