The ANC's top brass in the Vhembe District will gather at the Nandoni Waterfront Lodge this weekend for a special regional elective council (REC) meeting. Two important positions, namely those of deputy chairperson and deputy secretary of the Vhembe region, need to be filled on Saturday.
The two positions became vacant after the murder of the previous deputy secretary and Collins Chabane mayor, Moses Maluleke, last year and the death of the deputy chairperson of the regional ANC, Adv Makonde Mathivha. The Vhembe region is Limpopo's second-biggest ANC constituency.
The coming election has split the local ANC structures into two groups. One group wants the current mayor of Makhado Municipality, Samuel Munyai, to be elected as deputy chairperson, with Miyelani Chauke to serve as deputy secretary. Chauke is a councillor of the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) but has come under fire after he was accused of illegally connecting water to his own business premises at Mhinga village. The faction supporting Munyai and Chauke's appointment is led by the current regional chairperson of the ANC, Mr Tshitereke Matibe.
In the other corner is a faction led by the regional secretary of the ANC, Mr Rudzani Ludere. His group is backing VDM's mayor, Dowelani Nenguda, as deputy chairperson, with the mayor of Collins Chabane Municipality, Shadrack Maluleke, as deputy secretary.
Ludere warned members not to use the congress to divide the party in the region. He said that the special REC should focus on the task at hand as they were gearing for the 2024 general election.
"We have no doubt that the regional leadership, in consultation with the provincial leadership, have done everything in their power to ensure that all is well and all systems are ready," said Ludere.