Nikiwe Num

While Num was still serving as ANCYL Treasurer, she stood as a candidate in the 2004 general election and secured election to an ANC seat in the North West Provincial Legislature.[1] After the election, on 30 April 2004, North West Premier Edna Molewa appointed to her to the North West Executive Council as MEC for Sports, Arts and Culture.[4]

In August 2004, Num lost her bid for re-election as ANCYL Treasurer, according to the Mail & Guardian because of her association with the Young Communist League of the South African Communist Party.[5] She also failed to gain election as an ordinary member of the ANCYL National Executive Committee.[5] However, she continued as MEC and in a reshuffle announced on 23 August 2005, she was moved to a new portfolio as MEC for Social Development.[6]

At a chaotic party elective conference in May 2008,[7] Num was elected Deputy Provincial Secretary of the North West branch of the mainstream ANC. During her brief tenure in that office, she deputised Provincial Secretary Supra Mahumapelo.[8]

On 25 August 2008, the Congress of the People (Cope) announced that Num had resigned from the ANC – and therefore from the provincial legislature – in order to join Cope, a breakaway party that had recently been established in the aftermath of the ANC's 52nd National Conference.[9] She subsequently became Cope's candidate for election as Premier of the North West in the 2009 general election.[2][10] In that capacity, she was ranked first on Cope's provincial party list in the election and she was sworn into one of the three seats that Cope won in the North West Provincial Legislature.[11] She led the Cope caucus in the legislature throughout the five-year legislative term.[12][13][14]

At the same time, inside the party, Num was soon identified as a political ally of Mbhazima Shilowa, Cope's deputy leader, who was increasingly seen as a potential challenger to Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota.[15] Amid the leadership succession battle that followed, Num was rumoured to be considering leaving Cope; according to News24, she was offered a job with the police in mid-2010.[16] However, Num remained with Cope and in December 2010 stood on Shilowa's slate for election to the party's national leadership.[17] That month's party elective congress devolved into chaos and split the party, with both Shilowa and Lekota claiming to be Cope's legitimately elected leaders. Num was firmly within Shilowa's camp and acted as Secretary-General for his wing of the party.[18][19][20] In the resulting power struggle, Num was one of several Cope members whom Lekota's faction claimed first to suspend (in January 2011)[21] and then to expel (in March 2011).[22]

In early 2014 – by which time Shilowa had conclusively departed Cope – the Mail & Guardian said that Num was again rumoured to be in discussions about rejoining the ANC ahead of the 2014 general election.[14] However, Num said that she would complete her term as Cope leader in the provincial legislature, because, "It's better to be kicked out by Terror [Lekota] than to desert voters who got me into this position."[14] She did complete the legislative term in her Cope seat but did not run for re-election in May 2014.[23]