INTENSIVE lobbying for a successor to late Limpopo MEC for public works Pandelani Ramagoma was already in full swing by yesterday, barely two days before his funeral.

INTENSIVE lobbying for a successor to late Limpopo MEC for public works Pandelani Ramagoma was already in full swing by yesterday, barely two days before his funeral.

A serious contest has erupted between provincial ANC Youth League chairperson Lehlogonolo Masoga and Limpopo legislature deputy speaker Mariam Ramadwa.

Ramadwa is also the former Cosatu provincial chairperson.

Masoga has received the support of most of the youth league branches.

ANC sources said yesterday that Masoga's appointment would ease the tension between him and the league president Julius Malema.

They said his appointment could also help reconnect the league in the five regions of the province and restore the dying spirit between Masoga and Premier Cassel Mathale.

Masoga and Malema have reportedly not been seeing eye to eye for ages and have been avoiding each other in public during the party's meetings and rallies.

The source said Masoga's appointment would further swell the numbers in the branches in Mopani and Vhembe region.

Ramadwa, on the other hand, has been lobbied for by his comrades in Venda as the appropriate candidate for the position.

Sowetan has learnt that some officials in the REC in Vthe hembe region have instructed the PEC not to appoint anyone other than a Venda-speaking person.

But the South African Constitution states that it is the prerogative of the premier to appoint MECs.

But Mathale, who heads the ANC in the province, has to engage members of the PEC who deployed him in his current office to take an informed decision on the appointment.

But it is understood that Mathale is likely to merge public works and roads and transport in order to avoid tension.

Mathale could not be reached for comment.

But Masoga declined to comment yesterday.