Limpopo ANC; their respective supporters clashed violently on several occasions. ANC Provincial Chairperson: 2008–2013 The Limpopo ANC held its elective conference in July 2008 at the University of Venda and, on 17 July, it elected Mathale as Provincial Chairperson of the ANC in Limpopo. Mathale beat Moloto by more than 200 votes. Two weeks later, the Mathale-led Provincial Executive Committee declined a request from the national ANC to nominate three people to stand as the ANC's candidate for Premier of Limpopo in the 2009 general election; instead, the committee submitted only one name, Mathale's. The provincial party also put Moloto, the incumbent Premier, under significant pressure, exhorting him to reshuffle the provincial executive and appoint Mathale to a senior government position. Finally, in December 2008, Moloto appointed Mathale as Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Roads and Transport, after the incumbent, Justice Piitso, resigned. In addition, both as provincial secretary and as provincial chairperson, Mathale was an ex officio member of the ANC National Executive Committee. Premier of Limpopo In March 2009, Moloto resigned as Premier and defected from the ANC to the Congress of the People, a new pro-Mbeki breakaway party. The Limpopo Executive Council appointed Mathale as acting Premier of Limpopo from 3 to 23 March 2009 while the provincial legislature prepared to select Moloto's successor. Although there was some speculation that Maite Nkoana-Mashabane might be appointed Premier instead of Mathale, he was formally sworn in to the office on 24 March. Pursuant to the general election in May that year, he was elected to a full term as Premier. He was also re-elected as ANC Provincial Chairperson in December 2011, despite growing opposition to his leadership of the province. Discontent rested partly with the Limpopo provincial branches of the ANC's partners in the Tripartite Alliance, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), which had publicly called for Mathale's resignation, accusing him of presiding over a corrupt administration. At the same time, on some accounts, opposition to Mathale was linked to broader leadership struggles in the national ANC: Mathale remained an ally of Julius Malema, and together the pair were viewed as having turned against Zuma and as agitating for the ANC to depose Zuma at the ANC's 53rd National Conference, scheduled for December 2012. Yet when the Limpopo ANC held its elective conference, Mathale beat his challenger, Joe