Cape Town - ANC provincial chairperson Stan Mathabatha has kept his position after defeating his rival Dickson Masemola for the top job in Limpopo.
Mathabatha, Premier of Limpopo, retained the position of provincial chairperson after he won by a huge majority against Masemola.
The two men were in the race for the position after months of campaigning.
Mathabatha won by 781 votes against 389 votes for Masemola.
Mathabatha told the ANC conference that Masemola and other comrades who were contesting, had not lost.
“I want to commit to this leadership of the NEC here that those comrades who were contesting have not lost, because it is not about position,” said Mathabatha.
He also said it was no longer easy to hold ANC conferences without problems, but the Limpopo conference has gone well without disruption.
“We have a conference that is so seamless because you have disciplined cadres in this province,” he said.
Limpopo started its conference on Friday and on Saturday delegates began voting.
The results were announced on Saturday, and Mathabatha is the second leader to keep his position after Oscar Mabuyane was re-elected provincial chairperson in the Eastern Cape.
The elections of Mathabatha, Mabuyane and new Mpumalanga leader Mandla Ndlovu is a boost for President Cyril Ramaphosa after they all backed him ahead of the national elective conference in December.
Gauteng and North West are the next provinces expected to hold their conferences in June.
This would be before KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
The ANC wants all provinces and regions to go into conferences before the policy conference in July.
Political Bureau