The former African National Congress (ANC) Provincial Task Team Member in Mpumalanga, Mandla Ndlovu has been elected the new ANC chairperson in Mpumalanga, winning with 440 votes against deputy chairperson Speedy Mashilo who received 278 votes.

More than 700 delegates voted in the early hours of Saturday morning to elect the new top five leaders.

Ndlovu was previously seen as a Radical Economic Transformation (RET) man, and is believed to have switched political allegiance to Cyril Ramaphosa’s camp ahead of the national ANC elective conference in December.

Murder accused and former Mpumalanga agriculture MEC Mandla Msibi was elected treasurer while former provincial secretary Lindiwe Ntshalintshali took the deputy secretary position.

However, Msibi would not be allowed to assume his leadership role until his case is finalised by the courts. He is facing charges of murder and attempted murder following a shooting incident in August last year.

The coordinator in the office of the ANC secretary-general Gwen Ramokgopa told the delegates that Msibi would be given a chance to clear his name before he assumed his duties.

“We want to acknowledge that comrade Msibi did not wait for the party to suspend him but took the moral high ground and stepped aside on his own. Comrade [Msibi] will not be available to do ANC work and it is a dilemma that will face this collective,” Ramokgopa said.

Ntshalintshali was nominated by 170 of the 318 branches compared to Ndlovu’s 160.

Ntshalintshali also attended a rally outside the Bloemfontein High Court in support of suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule when he appeared on corruption charges in 2021.

She is known to be a vocal supporter of both former President Jacob Zuma and Mashagule and is also regarded as the RET’s point person in Mpumalanga.

She was also among senior ANC leaders who attended Zuma’s rally at Nkandla on the eve of his incarceration last year.

Chirwa and Msibi are seen as Magashule’s close allies in the province.

The biggest loser was Deputy President David Mabuza, the former Mpumalanga ANC chairperson, whose supporters lost all the positions they had contested.