Johnathan Paoli
President Cyril Ramaphosa said despite widespread popularity of Deputy Chief Whip and shadow MEC for Education in the Western Cape Khalid Sayed, the consultation process remained ongoing in light of resistance from within the party.
Ramaphosa was campaigning in Cape Town over the weekend and said due to some disagreement and an ongoing consultation process, the provincial ANC’s number one candidate for the Premiership remained unnamed.
Contrary to the practice by the ANC of only announcing premiers and mayoral candidates after elections, the party felt a change of approach was required in the WC, due to the potential victory of capturing the province in the upcoming elections.
The President said that the normal practice was not to declare a candidate premier for political as well as organizational reasons, unlike the president who automatically became the presidential candidate.
Ramaphosa said that the party decided to galvanise its support base in the province, calling for a different approach; naming the candidate premier in order to intensify its campaign in relation to potential electoral support.
“Realising that we could have a chance to take this province back to the ANC, we felt that in order to boost our campaign in the Western Cape, we should deviate from normal practice and nominate a premier candidate and announce it ahead of the election,” the president said.
Sayed is said to have been appointed by the ANC’s National Working Committee as the premier candidate ahead of the elections, however his candidacy was disputed by some members of the party, who said that he did not bring confidence to voters.
This follows repeated postponements by the ruling party to announce its candidate premier, but Sayed, in his position as spokesperson for the ANC has denied factionalism, and said focusing on the campaign was of a higher priority.
Meanwhile, DA WC leader said the repeated postponement of the ANC press briefings to announce the party’s Western Cape premier candidate speaks volumes about the party’s internal disarray.
“It begs the question: how can the ANC position itself as a credible opposition force in the Western Cape if it cannot even solidify its leadership to lead the province?
Sayed is currently a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament for the official opposition, as well as the chairperson for the provincial branch of the ANC Youth League since his re-election in 2018.
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