Former Western Cape Youth League Leaders Made It Into The ANC PEC

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CAPE TOWN: Mr Rataza and Khalid led the youth league structure from 20217 until their disbandment in 2021.

The African National Congress (ANC) in the Western Cape elected new leaders in a conference that ended on Sunday. Two front runners, Mr Cameroon Dugmoore lost to Mr Vuyiso JJ Tyhalisisu and Mr Richard Dyantyi failed to meet the threshold with delegates mocking him during the nominations process.

The much-anticipated conference concluded with Mr Tyhalisisu as the province’s chairperson, Ms Sharon Davis as deputy provincial chairperson, Mr Nelville Delport as provincial secretary, his deputy being Ms Ayanda Bans and Mr Derek Appels as the provincial treasury after being elected into the position unopposed.

The ANC had been run by the interim provincial committee for the last four years after the National Executive Committee (NEC) disbanded the provincial executive committee in 2019. The work of the IPC ended at the weekend after the new leadership was elected.

ANCYL’s former leaders made it into the provincial executive committee (PEC) which showed the confidence the ANC has in young people. Former provincial chairperson and secretary, Mr Mohammad Khalid Sayed and Mr Silas Rataza were among those elected into the PEC structure. Mr Rataza and Sayed led the youth league structure from 20217 until their disbandment in 2021

The conference – the first in eight years – has been delayed numerous times due to several problems within provincial structures. On Friday when the conference was due to kick off, several of the 700 delegates arrived only just in time for a 9pm dinner.

An accommodation “riot” ensued shortly thereafter when some delegates discovered that their booked hotel rooms were occupied by the so-called “friends of delegates”. Within the ANC, friends of delegates are party members who are not necessarily conference delegates but hang around conference venues lobbying for support for their preferred candidates.

Provincial convenor Mr Lerumo Kalako had no choice but to postpone the opening of the conference to Saturday morning.

Delivering the closing address at the conference that elected new provincial leadership after more than five years, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa said the “primary task” of the ANC going into the elections was to recover lost ground nationally and in the Western Cape.

The ANC, he added, needed “to outline a clear path towards achieving a clear majority in the City of Cape Town and other municipalities across the country”.

“We have it within us comrades to achieve this goal; we must never think it is an impossible goal.

“I would like you, as the Western Cape, to surprise everyone, to surprise even those within our own ranks who sometimes think that ‘no, the Western Cape for the ANC is a lost cause’. We are not a lost cause; we can achieve a clear majority.

“We need to appreciate the amount of work we need to do to convince our people here in the Western Cape that we are capable of also serving their interests. We need to convince them that we are best placed to improve their lives and to build a province that is more equal, more inclusive and more prosperous,” he added.