Durban - The National Day of Prayer drew a modest crowd at King’s Park on Sunday – but Premier Senzo Mchunu’s absence was the most telling.
The event – which had been scheduled to take place last month, before it was abruptly postponed – drew a crowd of just under 10 000 and mostly from one church, with the rest mostly in ANC colours.
Mchunu is facing the axe as premier as the provincial executive committee of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, apparently with the blessing of President Jacob Zuma, reportedly wants to effect a provincial cabinet reshuffle that will see him replaced by Transport MEC Willies Mchunu.
Zuma stepped into the 52 000-seater Growthpoint Kings Park Stadium under a heavy security presence, and was flanked by Willies Mchunu in his capacity as leader of provincial government business.
The premier’s job has been on the line since he was defeated by Sihle Zikalala in the ANC’s provincial elective conference in November.
An urgent meeting due to take place on Saturday with Zuma, the ANC provincial executive committee and Senzo Mchunu, apparently did not take place.
ANC KZN secretary, Super Zuma, refuted the claims and said there was no scheduled meeting to take place with the premier and the president.
He said there was a PEC meeting chaired by ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe that took place in the form of a workshop on Friday and Saturday.
Asked about the premier’s absence, he said the best person to respond to that would be Mchunu himself.
“It is, however, unusual for the premier to not be available when the president is here, because that is in accordance with protocol,” he said.
The premier’s spokesman, Ndabezinhle Sibiya, who was present at the national day of prayer event yesterday, said the premier had other business to attend to.
“The premier has asked the leader of government business in KZN, Willies Mchunu, to represent him as he had other engagements. They spoke last night (Saturday) and they agreed that Willies Mchunu, as government business leader, should represent him and lead the executive council here,” he said.
On Friday the premier’s office said it did not comment on issues of redeployment.
The premier could not be reached for comment on his cellphone.
Political analyst, Zakhele Ndlovu, said it was clear that there was a “serious problem” with the leadership, and the ANC would be making a “huge mistake” if it axed the premier ahead of the local government elections.
“With the local government elections coming up, the ANC is making a huge mistake if they remove the premier,” Ndlovu said.
“The ANC in KZN is already divided; we have seen what happened after the (eThekwini regional and provincial) conferences, with supporters of Senzo Mchunu and James Nxumalo saying they were not even thinking about the elections. This means that the ANC decline will continue, because those who sympathise with Nxumalo and Mchunu will feel sidelined and drag their feet in campaigning,” he added.
Political commentator Professor Somadoda Fikeni said the ANC was not aiding the situation by not coming out and pronouncing clearly on the matter to end the negative publicity.
He said the premier could feel he was politically isolated by the provincial leadership and said the gap between himself and the provincial leadership was evident.
The ANC Youth League in KZN said there was nothing amiss in the premier’s absence.
ANCYL KZN secretary, Thanduxolo Sabelo, said they would support any person deployed by the ANC to lead.
“The premier is at liberty to delegate if he cannot be present at an event,” he said.
“We don’t think that his non-availability should be an issue because we have Willies Mchunu. Ours is that we support the ANC government. Any premier that is appointed by the ANC, we don’t support him, we support the ANC; the ANC can take a decision to re-deploy at any time,” he said.
DA KZN leader, Zwakele Mncwango, said it was a “bad move” to get rid of the premier.
“I believe the allegations (that he will be axed) are true. Senzo Mchunu has never been accused of anything – not even of stealing a pen – yet the ANC wants to remove him. But they are happy to have a president in office (Jacob Zuma) who is facing 783 charges of corruption,” Mncwango said.
Mncwango said that the move to get rid of Mchunu was a result of “narrow, internal party politics”, and the expected provincial cabinet reshuffle alleged to take place with Mchunu’s axing was a simple way of purging the premier’s supporters.