The election of Mxolisi Dukwana as Free State ANC chairperson has finally ended Ace Magashule’s grip on the province and firmly established President Cyril Ramaphosa’s drive to renew the party, say ANC activists and an analyst.

Dukwana, who once alleged that Magashule once warned him he would “walk next to his [Dukwana’s] shoes”, implying that he would be so impoverished that he would wear worn-out shoes, was on Sunday elected provincial chairperson, beating incumbent premier Sisi Ntombela. 

Ntombela is seen as a Magashule ally. 

Dukwana has long been a vocal critic of Magashule’s reign. This led to Magashule firing him as an MEC. Dukwana later resigned as a member of the provincial legislature, alleging that Magashule had created conditions that made it impossible for him to continue working as an MPL.

Reacting to the outcome, Ntombela congratulated Dukwana, saying he should unite the ANC in the province. “It’s over now and we said that after the elections we must just respect the one who is elected. Mxolisi has now been elected as chairperson, we must just rally behind him.

“I heard that there are some complaints but I am waiting for a report because I don’t know what exactly happened inside there. At the moment, he is the chairperson and we congratulate him and wish him luck and he must do all that he can to unite the Free State because if he is not able to unite the ANC, we are going to have problems towards elections.”

Fannie Ledimo, the spokesperson for one of the two ANC structures in Mangaung, said they accepted the outcome as the will of the branches.

“Whether this is the outcome we preferred or not does not matter now. This is the leadership that has emerged and we will support it 100%. We are willing to work with the leadership to bring about unity and renewal of the ANC,” said Ledimo.

He added that they would be seeking a meeting with the new leadership to iron out differences.

“We want a leadership that will unite the ANC and deliver services.”

University of Free State political analyst Prof Sethulego Matebesi said the outcome was a watershed moment in that it was the first time in almost three decades of democracy that Magashule would not have a direct influence in the province.

Matebesi warned that changing the premier now would be suicidal for the ANC.

“It will be suicidal for the ANC to change the premier and the provincial executive committee now. It will also go against the renewal and unity message,” said Matebesi.

During the announcement of the results, there were a few objections, with some delegates complaining about the numbers not tallying up. A total of 657 voting delegates cast their votes on Saturday night. 

The position of deputy provincial chairperson went to Toto Makume, with Polediso Motsoeneng coming in as the secretary, Dibolelo Mahlatsi as deputy secretary-general and Mathebo Leeto being elected as the treasurer-general.

The conference, which was marred by several delays due to unresolved disputes, got under way on Saturday with ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe opening the conference.

An ANC activist who spoke on condition of anonymity said the margin of victory – around 55% – showed that Magashule’s network was still in place.

“This conference was a watershed moment in that it was the first time since 2006 – when Ace won – that the ANC has had a conference in this province he did not organise. Considering that Mxolisi had been in charge for the last two years and Ace’s people had been disbanded, we can expect that they will consolidate their 45% and come back.

“Mxolisi needs to show leadership. He must replace the premier either with himself or with someone else. But I don’t have faith in him. He has had two years [running the interim provincial structure] but he has nothing to show for it. He has done nothing to undo the rot caused by Ace. Instead, he has been negotiating with Ace’s people. Even his own department [co-operative governance] is not doing any better.

“Let’s hope he will have guts but he is just like Ramaphosa, who has been talking about nine wasted years but has nothing to show for his own time in office,” the activist said.