Dozens of Eastern Cape ANC branches nominate Sisulu 

By: Sello Theletsane

Tourism Minister and ANC NEC member Lindiwe Sisulu has received a boost for the party’s top job as several ANC branches in her home province, Eastern Cape nominated her for party president this past weekend.

According to the audited membership figures, the Eastern Cape will be represented by 684 delegates at the conference, becoming the second province with the biggest delegation after KwaZulu-Natal’s 877 delegates.

A total of 4,250 delegates will carry the hopes of all nine provinces.

One of the branches that nominated Sisulu is Ward 40 in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, an ANC branch which Andile Lungisa is a member of. Sisulu received her first endorsement in the province after delivering a memorial lecture to celebrate struggle stalwart Lilian Ngoyi, the first woman to make the cut for the ANC national executive committee (NEC), in Tamara in Peddie on Saturday.

Speaking on behalf of organiser of the event Nkululeko Mali said: “I’m not talking for anyone, I’m talking for myself as a chairperson of a branch that will be pronouncing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu for President 2022. I’m leading a cluster that has twelve branches, called Molly Blackburn. We aren’t confused, we know what we want.”

Added Mali: “So we are here to fetch her, we are here to give comrade Lindiwe Sisulu her machine. I was once a shop steward and I led workers. They say when you are going to represent workers, you must switch your cap, to show that you’re representing and with the workers because workers are always exploited by management. Now we are in a situation where we are being exploited by men through women. So, when we go to the conference, where I will be a delegate, we will be saying the mandate from Molly Blackburn from Mandela region is saying Lindiwe uXhamela, uTyhopo, uNokwindla must lead us.”

After wrapping up her lecture in Tamara, Sisulu attended another memorial lecture of another struggle activist, Ivy Gcina, in Gqeberha the following day (Sunday 18 September). ANC Women’s League, Nelson Mandela Region (Gqeberha) in Eastern Cape, the organisers of the event said they had seen fit to invite Sisulu because she had been part of Gcina’s life at some stage.

The League said they invited Sisulu to tell her that she must challenge Ramaphosa in December. While agreeing to stand for the position of ANC president at the party’s elective conference in December, Sisulu urged the league to speak out, especially against the abuse of state organs in fighting political battles.

She complained that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was at the centre of destroying the ANC, as “it is at the centre of factional battles of the ANC with their prosecutorial responsibility, something that comrade Ivy Gcina would not agree to”.

Sisulu called on the League to reject leaders who want positions of power because of self-interest, leaders seeking to enrich themselves and their families.