Durban – The ANC in the eThekwini region has approached a delegate over a letter alleging vote-buying at the 55th ANC national conference held at Nasrec earlier this month.
This week, a letter allegedly written by eThekwini ward 30 branch member and delegate Thabang Mdletshe and accusing President Cyril Ramaphosa, chairperson Gwede Mantashe and Bejani Chauke of using money to buy delegates at the conference surfaced.
However, Mdletshe has distanced himself from the letter and its contents.
In a statement, ANC eThekwini region spokesperson Mlondi Mkhize said that they continue receiving media enquiries regarding what has been rejected as fake legal papers,,purportedly demanding that the ANC electoral committee investigates the alleged buying of votes at the 55th ANC national conference held at Nasrec.
“For the the record, after our interaction with comrade Thabang Mdletshe, from Ward 30, who is a branch member and was a delegate, we wish to reject any attempt aimed at sowing seeds of confusion,” Mkhize said.
“We are satisfied with his explanation and we have accordingly closed this matter. And we do not wish to comment any further as we do not want to legitimise fake news.”
Mkhize said they echoed the statement by the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal which stated that they approached the conference guided by the ANC processes that points out that all their members are at liberty to influence each other.
Mkhize said that ANC delegates from the eThekwini region, throughout the conference, remained open to be influenced by others on the leadership choices. And they also influenced others.
“We subscribe to the notion that neither side can be seen as wrong for supporting any one leader of the ANC for election – private or public.
“As the ANC in the region, we are very firm on the issue of building unity as the cornerstone for service delivery across all corners of the municipality,” Mkhize said.
He said ANC leaders deployed in the municipality and those serving in various structures had been mobilised to focus on ensuring that confidence was restored in the ANC through tirelessly working to improve the lives of ordinary members of society. “This remains our guiding principle moving forward.”
Meanwhile, during the conference, allegations of the tampering of the voters roll by delegates said to be backing Ramaphosa surfaced.
A highly placed source and delegate on the inside told Independent Media that they had caught “Ramaphosa’s supporters” tampering with the voters roll with the intention of removing delegates believed to be supporters of former health minister Zweli Mkhize.
A source, who asked not to be named, said the culprits were found out by a KwaZulu-Natal provincial leader who refused to give his name.
He said the leader confronted the culprits about what they were doing before he took the matter to a conference steering committee, which then called all provincial secretaries to discuss the matter.
“As I’m talking to you, provincial secretaries are going through the voters roll to see whether there was any tampering. These people want to steal the conference at all cost. They tried to bribe delegates by offering them R20 000 to vote for Ramaphosa, now they are trying to remove us from the voters roll,” said a delegate.
Daily News