Anti-Zuma Alliance

 

Aug 6, 2012 | MOIPONE MALEFANE | 15 Comments

DEPUTY President Kgalema Motlanthe and Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale have joined forces in a bid to oust President Jacob Zuma at the forthcoming ANC elective conference.

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Tokyo Sexwale

Kgalema Motlanthe

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Sunday World has it on good authority that the deal between the Motlanthe and Sexwale camps will see Motlanthe being officially nominated to run for the party presidency in Mangaung in December with Sexwale being roped in as his deputy.
Motlanthe is now said to be ready to come out in the open defending ANC policies.
On Friday, he gave a hint of what his campaign will look like as he fired a broadside against embattled Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga over the Limpopo textbooks scandal.
Motlanthe told guests at the second anniversary of Lead SA: "The failure to deliver school books and the textbooks is indicative of a passive citizenry whose silence is complicit in the commission of such a tragic folly.
"Ordinarily the commission of such a failure would have prompted an active citizenry to call for action as far back as January."
Motlanthe's decision to attack Motshekga is the first of a series of public addresses he is going to use to boost his campaign, according to sources.
"While Motlanthe has been treading carefully so far, he knows what is at stake politically should he challenge Zuma. If he does not win, he will lose his current positions in the ANC and the government."
Sunday World understands that some provincial leaders have recently held meetings with him to seek his undertaking that he will contest. His decision to contest could also possibly divide the union movement - especially his former National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) - which backs Zuma's second term. NUM wants a situation where Motlanthe is retained as deputy president.
Another challenge facing Motlanthe and Sexwale is whether the two leaders can work together given the previous tension between them in the run-up to the Polokwane conference. Motlanthe attacked Sexwale's bid for the ANC presidency shortly before the 2007 conference, saying appearing on television does not make one a leader in the ANC.
He was apparently referring to Sexwale's previous role in The Apprentice television programme.
However, Sexwale later struck a deal with Zuma's lobbyist not to contest before he was elected onto the party's national executive committee. Zuma later offered him a cabinet position.
The Motlanthe and Sexwale alliance has not yet decided on the final shape of their line-up for other positions.
It is believed they are discussing whether to retain Gwede Mantashe as secretary-general or replace him with either party strategist Joel Netshitenzhe or Minister of Sport Fikile Mbalula. Former ANC youth leader Febe Potgieter-Gqubule's name has also been mentioned. At least four ANC leaders who are part of the Motlanthe-Sexwale alliance claimed that the decision to strike a deal to work together came after they realised how difficult it might be to win without each other. But the fight for control of the provinces still remains uppermost for the different factions as the Eastern Cape's biggest region, OR Tambo, became a battlefield for control and influence over the weekend.
The regional conference that was meant to start on Friday afternoon had not sat by midday yesterday as party leaders were still trying to resolve disputes over the right of some branches to take part in the conference.
Winning OR Tambo is most crucial for the Zuma grouping as they fight to claw back support for the president, who seems to be on shaky ground in the ruling party's second-biggest province.
By Friday a committee made up of national executive committee deployees Mnyamezeli Booi and Fikile Xasa and the provincial leadership was still listening to complaints as none of the factions wanted to leave anything to chance - given OR Tambo's influence.
Motlanthe and Sexwale lobbyists claimed that Western Cape, Northern Cape, North West and Eastern Cape were expected to nominate Sexwale for president in October when ANC opens its nomination process. They say Gauteng and Limpopo were going to nominate Motlanthe as their preferred candidate for presidency.
"We realised that we will not win if we do not work together. The OR Tambo regional conference that is taking place in the Eastern Cape this weekend is very important," said the source.
"It is highly contested, we have to win it and that will give an indication of whether the Eastern Cape will stand with us or Zuma."
The source conceded that the provinces were divided between Zuma and the other two candidates. He said they were however working hard to ensure that by the time the nomination process starts, they will have secured enough support for the anti-Zuma alliance.
At the moment, Zuma seem to have secured undivided support in three provinces - KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Free State.