The African National Congress (ANC) in the Western Cape has welcomed the appointment of Cameron Dugmore as leader of the official opposition in the Western Cape Legislature.

Dugmore's nomination was supported during a Provincial Executive Committee held last Friday and was forwarded to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party, which resolved to accept and endorse his nomination. 

The NEC met in Cape Town on Monday where among other issues, decisions pertaining to who would be the North West Premier and who would succeed Baleka Mbete as speaker of National Assembly were made. 

Earlier, News24 reported that Thandi Modise - the former National Council of Provinces (NCOP) chairperson - will be the ANC's candidate for Speaker of the National Assembly, the party announced.  

"We are confident that comrade Cameron will be an effective and decisive leader of the official opposition in the legislature. He is our most experienced member of the Legislature and is a committed non-racialist who made his commitment clear by playing SACOS sport during the apartheid days," said ANC Western Cape provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs.

The SACOS was a non-racial governing body for rugby union founded in 1966 that aligned itself with the anti-apartheid movement. 

It said that as a young white man who was facing conscription, Dugmore made public his refusal to serve in the apartheid army, adding that there were many other stories of his loyalty and commitment to the ANC and the liberation struggle.

"He has a wealth of experience as a past member of the opposition in the Legislature, and also as a former MEC. We believe that he will unite the official opposition and hold the DA to account. We wish him well," Jacobs said.