The African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) in KwaZulu-Natal has elected new provincial leadership, but cut short the time to discuss party programmes through commissions due to delays in the start of the conference.
The conference which was held in Durban, started on Friday and was supposed to end on Sunday. It was then rolled over to Monday.
Social Development MEC Nonhlanhla Khoza has been re-elected chairperson.
Nonhlanhla Khoza’s slate swept all the five top positions, defeating the slate linked to Cooperative Governance MEC, Bongi Sithole-Moloi.
“Comrade Khoza received 601 votes. Second candidate Bongi Sithole-Moloi received 598 votes. May you allow me to officially declare comrade Nonhlanhla Khoza as the chairperson of the Women’s league in KwaZulu-Natal.”
Vote rigging allegations
Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, ANC NEC member, Pemmy Majodina, dismissed reports that there was vote rigging during the leadership election.
This follows a video circulated on social media by some members allegedly in possession of papers suspected of being ballot papers.
“If you look at that video it is people sitting at the beach, cutting those papers. What usually happens in our conferences, which is not an official or formal thing, a certain group which supports a candidate; one they will make their list to say these are the people we want to elect and we made our own investigation and we found that they were doing that thing. It was not voting for this conference; nobody has brought anything like ballot papers that have already been voted inside this conference.”
Political analyst, Professor Bheki Mngomezulu, says delays in starting the conference could be a sign of disunity from within.
“If the organisation goes to the elections divided, in terms of factions, that will mean that they will be fighting intra squabbles and of cause inter squabbles and that is not going to go well for the organisation. But we know for a fact that women are supposed to be fighting for women issues, if they are not united than that’s also is negatively affecting them.”
Meanwhile, Education MEC, Mbali Frazer, has been elected deputy chairperson, while Zama Sokhabase is the provincial secretary.
