ANC DISBANDS WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE

UNCLAS CAPE TOWN 000166

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM SF
SUBJECT: ANC DISBANDS WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE


1. (U) On July 19, the ANC's National Executive Council (NEC)
disbanded its Northern and Western Cape (WC) provincial executive
committees. About 300 general council members were informed in Cape
Town that the NEC's decision to disband the provincial executive was
unanimous and that a task team would be established within 14 days
to run the province's affairs. On July 22, ANC Secretary General
Gwede Mantashe was in Cape Town to establish an interim task team
consisting of 22 members. Former Western Cape Premier Lynne Brown
is on the new task team, while former provincial ANC chair, Mcebisi
Skwatsha has been sidelined. The NEC decided it needed build new
provincial structures if it wished to regain control of key
municipalities in the province ahead of the local government
elections in two years' time.

2. (U) The Western Cape branch of the ANC, which lost the province
to the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the recent general election, has
been fraught with problems resulting from factionalism and internal
power struggles that intensified to such a degree that two rival ANC
provincial conferences were held in 2008. Mismanagement and
factionalism within the province has led to the ANC steadily losing
its provincial support. In December 2008, the ANC was unable to
contest the local by-elections due to a failure by the provincial
executive to register its candidates on time. There have been
numerous calls in the WC, most notably from the ANC Youth League
(ANCYL) and the SA Communist Party (SACP),for the provincial
executive led by Mcebisi Skwatsha to be disbanded. Critics accuse
the provincial executive of sowing racial division and of neglecting
branches in coloured areas. The mismanagement of the province was
so severe that prior to the April 2009 general elections the ANC
stripped the WC executive of all political power. The WC executive
has also been directly blamed for losing the province to the DA.
ANC alliance partner and Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini said the
ruling party lost the WC due to infighting within the party.
Dlamini was reported as saying, "We did not lose the Western Cape
because the DA was stronger, that's not true. We lost the Western
Cape because we were weaker because of our own squabbles and fights
amongst ourselves."

3. (U) In a media release Secretary General of the ANC, Gwede
Mantashe, said the African/Colored divide in the province was
serious and needed urgent organizational attention and ANC
structures in the province were generally weak, with very few
branches in colored communities. The new interim task team is
comprised of sixty-five percent colored members as a way to appeal
to the Cape colored communities, which widely voted for the DA in
the last election. He added that deployed cadres, in general, and
councilors in particular, were loyal to individuals rather than the
party. He also lashed out at what he called the "public posturing"
of the alliance partners, particularly some in the SACP and stated
that they cause more harm to the ANC and alliance relations than
good. Mantashe defended the ANC's decision to disband the WC
provincial executive by saying that "while the ANC is consumed with
infighting, the DA is utilizing available space by taking up the
issues affecting our people."

4. (U) The dissolution of the WC executive was welcomed by the SACP,
Cosatu, and the ANCYL, who all felt the decision was long overdue.
PolAsst spoke with Joe McGluwa of the Independent Democrats' who
QPolAsst spoke with Joe McGluwa of the Independent Democrats' who
branded the in-fighting in the WC as the tip of the iceberg. He
said the events in the province were symptomatic of the entire ANC
and said the divisions in the party were not a fight for better
services for the people, but rather a fight for personal resources
and power. Theuns Botha of the DA told PolAsst that his party
welcomed the ANC's decision to dissolve the WC Executive as it was
time the party focused on service delivery and fulfilling its
campaign promises. He further stated that the DA was not concerned
about the ANC regaining a foothold in the province as he believed
his party had delivered on campaign promises and this would
translate to votes at the polls.