Mabe confident of grabbing treasurer-general seat

Outgoing ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe believes he will be named the party's new treasurer-general at the end of the national elective conference on Tuesday. 

Speaking to Sowetan on the sidelines of the ANC's 55th national conference in Nasrec, Johannesburg, Mabe said he has the support of his branch to help him.

"Anyone who has been nominated by branches and went out to accept nomination, did so because they believe they can emerge. I did not accept nomination on the basis of chance. I accepted nomination because my branch, ward 96 in Havana City, Johannesburg, approached me and said 'you have been in the NEC for a decade now and when you were the TG of the [ANC] youth league, you represented us well. We want to push you into this [position of treasurer-general at national level]',’’ said Mabe.

''I told my branch that this is a very expensive position. I don’t have huge network of resource pools. How am I going to pull this one? They told me to believe in a collective and place reliance in those that I work with.

PODCAST | One on one with ANC treasurer-general contender Pule Mabe

"It is them and them alone who will help you to get this thing right. And I had to sit down and analyse, assimilate, and understand what they were raising. I said 'maybe let’s see what is in this big room that my branch, the people of heart, have decided upon me'."

He said he does not want to see ANC staff going through another struggle of not being paid their salaries.

''I know the pain that came with all the hardships we went through. Maybe a part of me agreed to the request of my branch to stand because of the plight of ANC workers [who were not paid their salaries].

"If there is one thing I wish to invest my youthful energy in is to go out there and make the ANC treasury enterprising. I want to mobilise resources and provide for the livelihoods of these men and women who are putting their energies into this organisation,’’ said Mabe.

He said it is important for the ANC to allow young people in the party to find expression and assume leadership positions.

''There is a bigger push by the younger ones in the ANC to have generations being able to uncover and discover themselves. If they [ANC members] do not appreciate new ideas and energy, they will lose relevance. You can only be as relevant as your age, and in order to avoid the ANC just being that, it has got to discover itself through these growing new energy,’’ said Mabe.

The other candidates for the treasurer-general position are Benjani Chauke, Mzwandile Masina and Gwen Ramokgopa.

kokam@sowetan.co.za