ANC decides on premiers - and 5 of the 7 are men

The ANC’s National Executive Committee has announced that five of the seven premier candidates agreed upon will be male.

But, in an effort to ensure gender parity, the NEC has instructed that all speakers of provincial legislatures be females.

The NEC met on Monday in Irene, east of Pretoria, to nominate candidates to serve as premiers in the eight provinces in which it received the majority vote after last week’s election. 

“The NEC further agreed that in provinces where premiers are men, then at least 60% of the Provincial Executive must be constituted by women,” said party secretary-general Ace Magashule in a statement.

He said speakers in all provincial legislature would be women, irrespective of whether the premier was male or female.

“There was a consensus that in instances where the premier is a female there shall be at least 50:50 representation in the provincial executive,” Magashule said. 

The NEC confirmed that ANC provincial chairperson Oscar Mabuyane would be premier of the Eastern Cape.

The Free State, Gauteng, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga will all see continuity as outgoing premiers have been nominated to serve once again.

Sisi Ntombela, who is also deputy president of the ANC Women’s League, will be the premier of the Free State, while the only other female premier is from Mpumalanga, Refilwe Mtsweni.

Gauteng would see provincial ANC chairperson David Makhura continue as premier after the ANC won a majority by a single seat.

It’s the same for ANC Limpopo chairperson Stanley Matabatha, who will also continue as premier.

In KwaZulu-Natal, Sihle Zikalala, has been nominated to be premier. Zikalala said he would reflect foremost on the 10% drop in support the ANC suffered in that province.

Magashule said in the statement that the North West premier candidate would be announced in due course.

“The NEC expressed appreciation to all its structures, volunteers, the elections team, alliance partners and supporters who gave their time, efforts and worked tirelessly during the election campaign. The ANC will undergo a process of self-introspection and assessment of its election campaign,” he said.

The opening of provincial legislatures for the sixth administration is expected to begin next week where premiers and speakers would be elected.