At long last: ANC to elect new leadership in the Western Cape this weekend

The ANC in the Western Cape will hold its much-delayed ninth provincial conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) from Friday to Sunday, 23 to 25 June.

REBUILDING STRUCTURES: INTERIM PROVINCIAL COMMITTEE PAVED WAY FOR ELECTIVE CONFERENCE

The party expects 700 delegates to take part in the elective conference. The party has been without leadership for nearly five years, with the interim provincial committee (IPC) effectively running the show since August 2019. The last elective conference was held in 2015.

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IPC Head Lerumo Kalako said that since its appointment by the National Executive Committee (NEC), it has worked on strengthening and rebuilding ANC structures in the Western Cape.

“The conference takes place after an extensive and thorough process of rebuilding structures of the ANC in the province by the Interim Provincial Committee (IPC),” read a statement released on 17 June.

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ANC AIMS TO CHALLENGE DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE’S CONTROL IN THE WESTERN CAPE

The ANC lost control of the province to the Democratic Alliance (DA) in 2009 and it remains the only one totally out of the party’s control.

According to EWN, the party’s main goal is to bring the DA under 50% in the Western Cape, and the possibility of coalition governments in 2024 will also be broached at the conference. In the 2019 provincial election, the DA had 55.45% of the vote to the ANC’s 28.63%. Both parties suffered a reduction and lost two seats each.

The Sunday Times reported that ANC MP Richard Dyantyi, party leader in the provincial legislature Cameron Dugmore and senior government official Justin de Allende are vying for the Western Cape Chairperson position. Kalako is reportedly also in the mix.