Ngculu gives up the fight

THE chairman of the ANC in Western Cape, James Ngculu, has bowed out of the party's provincial leadership race without a fight.

Ngculu, a bitter rival of ANC Western Cape secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha, told delegates at the party conference in Cape Town yesterday that he would not stand for any leadership positions. His announcement was greeted with applause.

Ngculu said it was time for the party to heal its wounds and stop the infighting.

The conference, which was marred by one crisis after another, started slowly.

A rival conference was held in Langa township by disgruntled ANC members, who accused Skwatsha of sidelining their branches.

The breakaway group is to march today to the International Convention Centre in Cape Town, where the official party gathering is taking place.

Members of the group said they were being sidelined and their branches disqualified from attending the party conference because of suspicions that they supported deposed president Thabo Mbeki.

Skwatsha, who sat quietly while Ngculu addressed the delegates at the convention centre, is expected to be nominated for the position of provincial chairman.

Skwatsha was stabbed in the neck in June at a party meeting in Worcester.

Yesterday, Ngculu told the delegates that a demoralised and divided ANC needed to cure its "cancer of division".

"We must turn our violent attitudes towards each other into friendships . Even Comrade Jacob Zuma was so concerned that he said he was worried about the hatred among comrades in Western Cape .

"The cancer of division must be cured by all of us," said Ngculu.

Skwatsha was a bitter rival of former Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool, who was replaced by Lynne Brown in July.

Ngculu is seen as an ally of Rasool.

An ANC member, who wanted to remain anonymous, told The Times that divisions in the party's Western Cape leadership had resulted in several branches boycotting the conference.

Randall van den Heever, the ANC's deputy chairman in the province, said that not all ANC delegates had registered for the conference.

This had delayed voting for the province's senior ANC posts.