Awubuyi wena! cheers, jeers, song and tears at ANC conference

Awubuyi wena!

A trio of delegates who appeared to be in a mood for disruption shouted at Gwede Mantashe who was standing for reelection as the ANC’s national chairperson as he stood on the podium to introduce party president Cyril Ramaphosa.

“Comrades! Comrades!” Mantashe’s pleas to the men were drowned out by even more shouting and singing.

The moment of truth had arrived. Delegates had converged to carve a way forward for the party and most importantly, it seemed to many this was the sole purpose of the gathering, to vote for new leadership.

The Nasrec Expo Centre was packed with more than 4000, high spirited ANC delegates, party veterans, marshals, and more than 100 journalists and photographers all vying to capture proceedings as the party gathered for its 55th National Conference.

Comrades from different regions marched inside the hall prior to proceedings getting underway, singing in expression of their preferred candidates.

The battle lines had been drawn in the months leading up to the conference, with KwaZulu-Natal, expressing support for Zweli Mkhize, who was resigned in disgrace as health minister, to ascend the party presidency.

Speculation was in overdrive around the conference venue, with rumours flying about which province had switched allegiance to which candidate at the last minute.

Ramaphosa eventually took to the podium to speak after a long delay as the KZN delegates refused to budge, singing and winding their hands in the air to indicate the time for change had come. But this didn’t stop the interruptions, which were at times so comical and irritating they raised doubts about the sobriety, or sanity of the transgressors.

“Loaaaadsheddiiing!”

“Awubuyi wena!”

“Phala Phalaaaaa!

One delegate raised a paper bag, pointing at Ramaphosa – “what is this? what is this?”

Another delegate stood from his chair and walked closer to the podium behind where journalists were gathered on the floor, seeking to raise a point of order.

“Chairperson? Chairperson?” he called out repeatedl.

“This is procedural! This is procedural!” he responded when some of his comrades called him to sit down.

He was later led away by KZN chairperson Siboniso Duma after remonstrating with him for a short while.

There’s no doubt Ramaphosa heard and so all that, but he ignored it and continued delivering political report.

His speech was later interrupted by the party’s proverbial problem child, its former president Jacob Zuma, who made a late entrance – causing his supporters in the hall to erupt into cheering and chanting.

Two days later after voting for candidates had been concluded, the delegates all gathered to hear another former party leader Kgalema Motlanthe announce the election results. Like sheep, the large contingent of journalists who had waited all day the previous day and morning for news about the announcement, were shepherded into the hall.

“White monopoly capital media!” I overheard a delegate, sipping coffee from a paper cup point at us as we shuffled along hoping to get the best spot near the podium.

That singing again, spirited, expectant, powerful, filled the hall. Men and women moved about the hall singing, clapping, dancing, ululating. Some leapt into the air, shouting, others stood on tables, singing as if their entire lives depended on the results to be announced shortly afterwards.

It is now common knowledge that Ramaphosa earned 2476 votes to beat Mkhize who didn’t do too badly with 1897, to retain his position as party president.

The announcement by Motlanthe threw the KZN delegates into a stunned silence – while members of Gauteng and other branches supporting Ramaphosa erupted into mad jubilation. Ramaphosa himself broke into a smile as large as the grin of a buffalo, shaking hands and embracing jubilant comrades on his way to the podium.

When the announcement for all the top seven candidates were made, it was clear that KZN’s campaign had borne rotten fruit, with neither of the elected comrades from the province or from regions they are perceived to support.

The failure by Mkhize to topple Ramaphosa at the ballot was too much to bear for some delegates. A woman broke into tears, sobbing while fiddling with her phone, while around her, her comrades sat in stunned silence. It is possible the woman could have been crying over some other matter though, because when approached for comment by a journalist, she continued crying, not saying a word.

As the singing went on elsewhere in the hall by jubilant delegates, the KZN branches sat in silence, with some exchanging words with their comrades who sang looking in their direction, swinging their hands in the air to signal change.

“The ANC is gone,” one dejected man said looking in the direction of journalists taking pictures. “It’s gone.”

Another raised his hands gesturing that money had exchanged hands or that delegates had been paid. It was all so strange, as if these delegates, all dressed in different types of outfits with matching ANC colours, were not from the same political organisation. – news@mukurukuru.co.za