ANC Deputy Secretary-General Nomvula Mokonyane dismisses claims of a “Motsepe campaign,” saying the party is focused on rebuilding structures and preparing for local government elections.
Image: ANC/ X
ANC deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane says there is no “Motsepe campaign” within the ANC, dismissing speculation about internal succession battles and insisting the party does not entertain personality-driven contests.
Speaking on the sidelines of the secretary-general’s visit to KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday, Mokonyane rejected what she described as “foreign tendencies” being imposed on the party.
“Firstly, there is nothing in the ANC called the Motsepe campaign. Don’t ever bring foreign tendencies to the ANC. It’s an ANC. We don’t have something called Motsepe campaign, nor do we have personality contestation. It’s not a beauty contest,” she said.
She said leadership debates were not a current priority for the organisation. “We have a process in the ANC that helps members of the ANC to look as to who must lead. And for now, that matter never arises except from the fourth estate about who’s going to lead the ANC,” Mokonyane said.
Instead, she said the party was focused on rebuilding its structures and governance at the local level.
“The ANC is preoccupied about who is going to be our best ward candidate in Ward 1, in Ward 21, in Ward 97, everywhere. We are preoccupied with that. We are preoccupied with fixing local government. We are preoccupied with reviewing the work of our local government people,” she said.
Her remarks came as the ANC reconfigured its provincial structures in KwaZulu-Natal, including appointing a new Provincial Task Team (PTT) following an assessment of the previous structure.
“We have evaluated the previous provincial task team. We have looked at the work that it has done and how far it had gone to implement its mandate, and on the basis of that we have now reconstituted a PTT,” she said, adding that the new structure has been reduced from 67 to 36 members.
As part of the changes, Mokonyane confirmed the appointment of a new provincial spokesperson. She said Sifiso Sonjica would take up the role, replacing Fanle Sibisi, who had served since February last year and will now continue as an ordinary member of the PTT.
She said members of the new PTT would be assigned specific responsibilities, with a working committee, spokesperson, and elections leadership already confirmed.
The ANC had also reinforced its capacity in the province with national executive committee (NEC) members, both resident and deployed, to support organisational renewal and governance.
Addressing questions about leadership deployments, Mokonyane said NEC members would not necessarily form part of regional task teams but would oversee their work on behalf of the national structure.
She described the intervention as part of a broader national programme to “renew and reclaim the base of the African National Congress” in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mokonyane said a report on the reassignment of roles for several members, including former PTT convenor Jeff Hadebe, would be tabled at the NEC in May.
“We will present a national executive committee that is going to be sitting in this month of May.
''It is in that national executive committee where a report will be presented not only of Comrade Jeff but of many other members of the NEC who want to assign new roles and responsibilities. So he will not be active here in KwaZulu-Natal,” she said.
Mokonyane also rejected suggestions that the reconfiguration of the PTT was an admission of failure, explaining that such structures have a defined lifespan.
“You’ll remember a PTT has got a particular lifespan. Once that term comes to an end, you do an assessment, and then you put together another team,” she said.
She added that some members from the previous structure had been redeployed to strengthen regional and local structures.
“The renewal and strengthening of the ANC does not only end here in the province, we need more strength in the regions, in the locals. So many of those comrades have not disappeared from helping to rebuild the ANC,” she said.
Looking ahead to the next local government elections, Mokonyane said the party was focused on addressing governance failures that contributed to electoral losses in 2021 and reflecting on the outcomes of the 2024 elections.
She said the ANC would use the district development model to improve coordination across spheres of government and hold public representatives accountable.
“We know what went wrong. We now are better off because we have reflected on the municipalities that we have lost, the outcomes of the 2024 elections, and in the context of that, our approach is that let’s fix local government,” she said.
Mokonyane also addressed the Eastern Cape, saying there was no crisis, adding that the provincial executive committee remained fully functional.
“You don’t disband a PEC until the credentials in a conference are adopted. So the conference has not been set in the Eastern Cape. So you’ve got a fully functional PEC that is doing its work, and there is no crisis for now,” she said.
She added that the newly appointed task team’s priorities include preparing for local government elections, rebuilding party structures and contributing to the ANC’s broader national renewal programme.
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