VZCZCXRO4804
PP RUEHDU RUEHJO
DE RUEHTN #0166 2041603
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 231603Z JUL 09
FM AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3146
INFO RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 6456
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 0118
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE 0001
RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG 2159
RUEHDU/AMCONSUL DURBAN 3303

UNCLAS CAPE TOWN 000166 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM SF
SUBJECT:  ANC DISBANDS WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE 
 
¶1. (U) On July 19, the ANC's National Executive Council (NEC) 
disbanded its Northern and Western Cape (WC) provincial executive 
committees. About 300 general council members were informed in Cape 
Town that the NEC's decision to disband the provincial executive was 
unanimous and that a task team would be established within 14 days 
to run the province's affairs. On July 22, ANC Secretary General 
Gwede Mantashe was in Cape Town to establish an interim task team 
consisting of 22 members.  Former Western Cape Premier Lynne Brown 
is on the new task team, while former provincial ANC chair, Mcebisi 
Skwatsha has been sidelined. The NEC decided it needed build new 
provincial structures if it wished to regain control of key 
municipalities in the province ahead of the local government 
elections in two years' time. 
¶2. (U) The Western Cape branch of the ANC, which lost the province 
to the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the recent general election,  has 
been fraught with problems resulting from factionalism and internal 
power struggles that intensified to such a degree that two rival ANC 
provincial conferences were held in 2008.  Mismanagement and 
factionalism within the province has led to the ANC steadily losing 
its provincial support.  In December 2008, the ANC was unable to 
contest the local by-elections due to a failure by the provincial 
executive to register its candidates on time.  There have been 
numerous calls in the WC, most notably from the ANC Youth League 
(ANCYL) and the SA Communist Party (SACP), for the provincial 
executive led by Mcebisi Skwatsha to be disbanded.  Critics accuse 
the provincial executive of sowing racial division and of neglecting 
branches in coloured areas.  The mismanagement of the province was 
so severe that prior to the April 2009 general elections the ANC 
stripped the WC executive of all political power. The WC executive 
has also been directly blamed for losing the province to the DA. 
ANC alliance partner and Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini said the 
ruling party lost the WC due to infighting within the party. 
Dlamini was reported as saying, "We did not lose the Western Cape 
because the DA was stronger, that's not true.  We lost the Western 
Cape because we were weaker because of our own squabbles and fights 
amongst ourselves." 
¶3. (U)  In a media release Secretary General of the ANC, Gwede 
Mantashe, said the African/Colored divide in the province was 
serious and needed urgent organizational attention and ANC 
structures in the province were generally weak, with very few 
branches in colored communities.  The new interim task team is 
comprised of sixty-five percent colored members as a way to appeal 
to the Cape colored communities, which widely voted for the DA in 
the last election.  He added that deployed cadres, in general, and 
councilors in particular, were loyal to individuals rather than the 
party.  He also lashed out at what he called the "public posturing" 
of the alliance partners, particularly some in the SACP and stated 
that they  cause more harm to the ANC and alliance relations than 
good.  Mantashe defended the ANC's decision to disband the WC 
provincial executive by saying that "while the ANC is consumed with 
infighting, the DA is utilizing available space by taking up the 
issues affecting our people." 
¶4. (U) The dissolution of the WC executive was welcomed by the SACP, 
Cosatu, and the ANCYL, who all felt the decision was long overdue. 
PolAsst spoke with Joe McGluwa of the Independent Democrats' who 
QPolAsst spoke with Joe McGluwa of the Independent Democrats' who 
branded the in-fighting in the WC as the tip of the iceberg.  He 
said the events in the province were symptomatic of the entire ANC 
and said the divisions in the party were not a fight for better 
services for the people, but rather a fight for personal resources 
and power. Theuns Botha of the DA told PolAsst that his party 
welcomed the ANC's decision to dissolve the WC Executive as it was 
time the party focused on service delivery and fulfilling its 
campaign promises. He further stated that the DA was not concerned 
about the ANC regaining a foothold in the province as he believed 
his party had delivered on campaign promises and this would 
translate to votes at the polls.