Mzwandile Masina announced on Sunday that he was withdrawing from the Treasurer General race at the 55th African National Congress (ANC) elective conference and supporting Pule Mabe for the position.
The decision came after a series of discussions with ANC leaders from various provinces.
Speaking to the media in a joint media briefing, Masina explained that the decision was taken to ensure that support is pooled behind one individual and not divided among many camps with the same goal.
He also said the merger discussions were initiated by Pule and himself.
After reminding the media that “the ANC is a democratic organisation,” Masina said “if you look at the nominations, especially of the like-minded, it was logical that when we come to reach this particular decision, to support Pule, I don’t think there are any issues of personality clashes…”
The decision was taken at the time that ballots had already been printed for ANC delegates to vote for their preferred top six candidates and Masina said that he and Mabe, therefore, felt the need to clarify their decision to the media in order to eliminate further confusion.
The former Ekurhuleni mayor reminded the media that Mabe supports Zweli Mkhize in his bid for ANC president as well as Paul Mashatile for deputy president, Phumulo Masualle for secretary-general, Nomvula Mokonyane for first DSG, Ronalda Nalumango for second DSG and Stan Mathabatha for national chair.
He then added that he supported Mabe because they are “like-minded in terms of what we’d like to see with regard to issues.”
Voting underway
Horsetrading and head counting continued on the third day of the ANC elective conference as two main factions each vied to emerge victorious.
Following tension-filled nominations that ran into the early hours of Sunday, groups held separate meetings around the venue, ensuring that delegates toed the line.
The RET faction (which Masina is believed to be part of) aligned with hopeful president Zweli Mkhize and one led by his opponent, Cyril Ramaphosa posted campaigns across social media platforms, with each claiming victory.
After receiving messages of support on Sunday, delegates went into commissions to further tackle policies drafted at the July policy conference.
Voting was supposed to start at 9am, but as has been the norm at the conference, it got underway only in the afternoon.
Separate provinces went into booths to cast their votes, with Limpopo going in just after 4pm on Sunday.
Compiled by Kaunda Selisho, additional reporting by Getrude Makhafola
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