Sowetan ahead of the 2012 provincial conference.^6 His prediction
turned out to be 100 per cent correct.
His victories at so many successive provincial conferences inevitably
convinced commentators and journalists that he enjoyed near-universal
support in the Free State. Over the years, the media consistently
reported on his ‘popularity in the province’,^7 and described him as
‘popular at grassroots level’.^8 And so a myth was perpetuated that
Magashule remained in power because he had authentic and
widespread support from the 300 -odd ANC branches in his home
province.^9 However, there is ample evidence to the effect that
Magashule and his allies at least partly assured their political
domination through dirty tricks. Developments that unfolded soon after
the ANC’s 2012 provincial conference especially suggested that the
provincial leadership had virtually no respect for the party’s most
fundamental democratic processes.
Two scathing court judgments, a tiny trove of leaked documents and
myriad source accounts enabled me to piece together the astonishing
story of how Magashule and his cohorts obliterated the ANC’s branch-
based system of participatory democracy to prolong their faction’s
reign. As previously mentioned, opponents of the former premier and
his allies were subjected to all manner of irregularities to keep them
away from provincial conferences. A majority of South Africa’s highest
court found that ANC members at many of the province’s branches
were effectively disenfranchised.^10 As a result, the voices and votes of
those who sought to bring about political change in the province were
discounted at the very conferences where the Magashule bloc emerged
as victors. In some instances, would-be challengers were neutered
through intimidation and even violence.^11
nora
(Nora)
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