The star Online
Friday, December 01, 2006
Fights over patronage and not ideology are behind the ongoing political wrangling in the Eastern Cape ANC, according to the party's provincial chairperson, Makhenkesi Stofile.
Stofile, who is also the minister of sport, has led the divided Eastern Cape ANC for 10 years. He was addressing the party's provincial congress in Alice yesterday.
He is not standing for re-election.
Two historically competing camps have put up rival candidates for his position and for that of provincial secretary.
Tensions were running high and fierce behind-the-scenes lobbying dominated yesterday's start to the congress.
Stofile did not mince words when he addressed more than 1 000 delegates, saying many had joined the ANC just because they believed it gave them access to government positions. He said the historically opposing ideological camps had been reduced to competing patronage networks "in their crudest form".
The media has portrayed the fierce leadership struggles in the province as being fought between a populist Left-aligned group and a more nationalist camp aligned to President Thabo Mbeki.
But in an interview yesterday before the congress, Stofile said that although there had been different ideological groups in the province since the 1940s, these were no longer behind the ugly infighting.
"Now it is about who will give me the job or the tender when they get to power.
"Local government is the worst area of conflict over positions, and the quality (of leaders) who came out of the contestation over positions in the (2006) elections is not what the ANC promised the country on January 8," Stofile said.