The effects of the recent national elective conference of the ANC are continuing to compromise the political future of the two female mayors in the Vhembe district.

Mirror learnt reliably that the mayor of Musina Local Municipality, Cllr Caroline Mahasela, and Cllr Glory Mashaba, mayor of Makhado Municipality, were "strategically dumped" during the ANC Women’s League conference held at the Lemana Multi-Purpose Centre last weekend.

Members of the ANC Women’s League, who requested to remain anonymous, claimed that the regional conference was supposed to have been held in March 2007, but it was postponed several times until last week.

In the previous leadership structure, Mashaba was an additional member, while Mahasela was the regional deputy chairperson. During the conference, Mahasela tried to contest for her position, but was beaten hands down by Cllr Grace Machovhane of the Makhado Municipality.

All members of the previous regional structure, including the former regional chairperson, Maria Mamedzi, Mahasela, Mashaba and their cohorts were not only not elected to the top five, but also not as additional members.

"In the ANC, we need a new leadership which is committed and dedicated to serve the masses. We have removed their leader in Polokwane, so we felt it proper to show them an exit too," said a league member known to Mirror.

According to the league members, who attended the conference, the organizational report of the former regional secretary, Eunice Nngwana, and the political report of Mamedzi both failed to address the policies of the ANC and were written in broken English.

In the newly elected structure, the deputy chairperson of the ANC in the Vhembe region and a member of the Vhembe district mayoral committee, Mrs Livhuwani Mabidzha, was elected as the new Women’s League chairperson. Mabidzha will be assisted by Cllr Grace Machovhane. The newly elected minutes secretary is Mrs Molly Mabasa, a ward councilor of the Thulamela Municipality, and she will be assisted by Ms Mihloti from Musina.

The speaker of the Makhado Municipality, Cllr Joan Hoorzuk, retained her position when she was re-elected unopposed as the league’s treasurer.

"We are now glad that we have a leadership which is more aligned to the national leadership of the ANC and the regional ANC Youth League in the Vhembe district," said another member.