No plan to unseat Eastern Cape leadership, says Sbu Ndebele

11 February 2018 - 00:00 By SIPHE MACANDA

The investigation into the ANC's chaotic Eastern Cape conference will not recommend the removal of the provincial executive committee led by Oscar Mabuyane.
The head of the ANC task team that probed the conference, former transport minister Sbu Ndebele, told the Sunday Times this week that its mandate was not to investigate the legitimacy of the new PEC.
"Our investigation couldn't look at the outcomes of the conference. That would have been unfair. There were four of us who were members of the NEC there, whereas there were almost 20 of the NEC that were overseeing the conference. We came after the story and we were not there and they were there and saw everything. So we cannot pass judgment," Ndebele said.
Ndebele's comments come after supporters of premier Phumulo Masualle - who was defeated by Mabuyane at the conference last year - spread rumours that the Ndebele report recommends that Mabuyane and his team vacate office and that the conference be reconvened.
"Ours is to say that there shouldn't have been that kind of violence in an ANC conference, ours is to say what happened in the Eastern Cape and what led to that violence. How the ANC can organise itself that those scenes never happen again," Ndebele said.
The Eastern Cape incident was not an isolated phenomenon and should be used as a case study by the party to avoid a repetition, he said.Ndebele's task team was established after disgruntled members, including Masualle, lodged a complaint with the ANC national executive committee citing irregularities, including that the conference continued to elect leaders even though Masualle had "adjourned" it.
The conference was labelled a "festival of chairs" by ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa, who was deputy president at the time. He later retracted his comments.
The task team, which included Rejoice Mabudafhasi, Joyce Moloi Moropa and Sdumo Dlamini, was then deployed to the province to conduct the probe.
Tension between the two camps in the province persists despite a new leadership having been elected.
A recent decision by the provincial executive committee to "reconfigure" the cabinet is expected to intensify the tension.
This week the ANC Youth League provincial task team called on the ANC NEC to disband Mabuyane's executive committee.
Team co-ordinator Ntombikayise Mnyengeza said the PEC had adopted a "disruptive" stance, adding: "Since their emergence in the most chaotic, divided and aborted conference, they found comfort to proclaim themselves as leadership whose aim is to destabilise governance as their primary preoccupation."..

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