Disputes hold up elective vote in Dr WB Rubusana

The much-awaited Dr WB Rubusana elective conference was delayed for hours on Friday, as the national appeals committee battled to resolve two cases lodged as disputes.

The committee, led by Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize, received a total of seven branch disputes since preparations for the conference started a few weeks ago, but acting deputy secretary Mthetheleli Sam said only “two cases had not been resolved by late on Friday due to complexity of both cases”.

Sam said another reason for the five-hour delay was that both the ANC provincial chairman Oscar Mabuyane and secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi arrived very late, as “they were both in Cape Town as part of the national executive committee which held a special meeting [on Thursday] until very late”.

Mabuyane had to deliver a keynote address before the organisers could start with the conference. Branch nominations show that some members want the current regional chairman and Buffalo City Mayor Xola Pakati to serve a second term, but others want suspended regional chairman Pumlani Mkolo to contest the chairperson position.

The two were allies in the last conference, along with Sindile Toni who is also considered as the “third way”.

Toni served in the Dr WB Rubusana regional executive as an additional member and is current BCM mayoral executive committee member for corporate services.

But by late on Friday, discussions were still under way to merge Pakati’s line-up with Toni’s. But insiders said “it won’t be that easy as some of Xola’s [Pakati] supporters want him to join Mkolo”, said a source close to the developments. Registration started in earnest on Thursday and Sam said there were 240 voting delegates and these included representatives of the ANC Women’s League, the youth and veterans.