ANC Norman Mashabane regional chairperson, Pule Shayi
The delegates to the second leg of the African National Congress 55th national conference on Thursday converged in nine hubs across the country to complete its business with President Cyril Ramaphosa firmly and confidently on the saddle of the party’s eighty-seven national executive committee of the party.
The little acknowledged fact, though widely publicised by the media, is that if it were not of the Limpopo delegates the closely contested presidency of the ANC might have narrowly gone to the former Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize.
This happened after the Limpopo delegates commanded by the ANC Norman Mashabane (Mopani district) regional chairperson Pule Shayi and supported by the four other regions, rebelled against their provincial leadership who wanted to take them on the N3 route to support Dr Zweli Mkhize for president in a flagrant. violation of the province’s mandate to support President Ramaphosa for the position.
The idolatry turn around by the Limpopo ANC leadership was communicated to the provincial delegates who carried the Ramaphosa mandate by Florence Radzilani, the provincial deputy chairperson and heir apparent to the premiership when Stanley Mathabatha completes his term in 2024.
Instead of message of the turnaround by the ANC Limpopo provincial leadership, Norman Mashabane regional chairperson Pule Shayi rose to the occasion to affirm their unshakeable support for President Ramaphosa with the support of Vhembe, Peter Mokaba, Waterberg and Sekhukhune regions.
The Shayi engineered and led mutiny split the Limpopo provincial executive committee down the middle with the majority members, including the provincial secretary Reuben Madadzhe and spokesperson Jimmy Machaka, standing firm for Ramaphosa. This turn of events left the provincial chairperson Stanley Mathabatha isolated, with only his deputy Radzilani and deputy provincial secretary Basikopo Makamu sticking with him in support of Mkhize.
At the time of the Mathabatha and crew cessation, Ramaphosa enjoyed majority support in all the provinces bar Kwa-Zulu Natal which backed its Zweli Mkhize. Limpopo’s U-turn to the N3 would have caused a serious dent on the Ramaphosa numbers and put his prospects of re-election in jeopardy.
After the mutiny engineered and led by Shayi, Norman Mashabane spokesperson Peter Hasani Ngobeni moved to top gear to assure supporters of Ramaphosa that the majority of branches maintained the original stance of the province immortalised in the song “Ramaphosa re go rata kaofela, re tsamaya le wena.”
Ngobeni became the media rock star of the moment, oversubscribed for media interviews in the turmoil within the Limpopo provincial leadership and the resolute leadership Mopani chairperson Shayi.
Shayi whose political currency was in decline after the white wash defeat at the ANC Limpopo provincial conference where he stood for deputy chairperson to Dr Dickson Masemola as chairperson, saw his fortunes touch the clouds.
Shayi and Ngobeni will go down in history as men who saved President Ramaphosa’s bacon at the ANC 55th national conference.
Shayi’s people dominate the list of additional members from Limpopo, and his detractors recorded almost zero with Mathabatha’s bid for national chairperson ending in tears. Other failed bids for the national executive committee from Limpopo are Thabo Mokone and Dr Phophi Ramathuba who couldn’t make it to the national executive committee.
Meanwhile the second leg of the ANC 55th national conference concluded its hybrid session overnight from nine hubs across the country after adopting resolutions, constitutional amendments, conference declaration and receiving the closing address by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
In his closing address President Ramaphosa among other things said:
“The Conference will be recalled as a moment when we stood as one in turning our back on the destructive tendencies and practices that have eroded the people’s confidence in our movement. This conference will be remembered as a key moment on the path of the renewal of the ANC. It will indeed be remembered as being a key foundation stone in forging the unity of the ANC.
With the ANC watershed 55th national conference done and dusted, the caravan heads to Mangaung in the Free State province for the annual national executive committee January 08 Statement and the celebration of its 111 anniversary, after which the national agenda shall be set for the year ahead.
