Durban - Durban’s mayor James Nxumalo has been accused by a faction of the local ANC of “stealing” his position as head of the ANC in eThekwini and KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu of orchestrating it, by hiding a letter that would have changed the weight of the vote in the party’s recent regional conference.
The letter was from party general secretary Gwede Mantashe to provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala and explicitly said three regions did not have a mandate to participate in the election of a new eThekwini ANC head.
Nevertheless they were allowed to participate, which led to Nxumalo’s election.
On Monday protesters heckled Mchunu at the Durban ANC provincial office when he tried to address the crowd, which was demanding an explanation about the decision to keep the letter a secret.
The protest highlighted the deepening division in the local ANC which started in the run-up to the conference late last year.
On Monday, protesting party members allowed Zikalala to address them, but howled “No” when Mchunu emerged.
Zikalala had allegedly supported former regional treasurer Zandile Gumede who was up against Nxumalo.
“That one (Mchunu) has betrayed the struggle. Things are like this because of you, Senzo. We don’t want you to talk to us,” shouted members as Mchunu was about to address them.
However, during the press briefing afterwards, Mchunu and Zikalala put up a united front and defended the outcome of the conference and threatened action against “unruly comrades”.
“The letter is not a secret kept by the provincial leadership. The content of the letter was summarised to the delegates at the conference,” Zikalala said.
He said the delegates had taken “a political decision” to allow the three branches to participate. However, the angry protesters said that decision should have been guided by the party’s constitution – as was put forward by Mantashe.
Zikalala said efforts now had to be made to unite the party.
“Part of building unity is political education to isolate these tendencies (protests). The second part is to identify people who do wrong in the organisation and be decisive and steadfast with discipline,” he said.
Protest leader Mzomuhle Dube, of ward 13 in Pinetown, said that before, during and after the conference the leadership never told party members about Mantashe’s letter.
On February 11, two days before the conference, Mantashe wrote to Zikalala that ward 16 (Pinetown), ward 30 (Mayville/Sherwood) and ward 74 (Lamontville) should be excluded from the conference because their credentials were not up to scratch.
“We only got to know about the letter through the newspapers. We need to see the letter because we want to know what Mantashe really said about the three branches,” he said.
Dube said the ANC’s provincial working committee had compromised the ANC policy and constitution by defying Mantashe’s order.
The protesters braved scorching weather to picket for about four hours. Police shielded the main entrance as protesters tried to push their way into the offices.
Pandemonium broke out when a man, who was taking pictures with his tablet, was accused of spying for Nxumalo’s camp. He was kicked and punched. Police rescued him, but the attackers took his tablet.
Mchunu said he was unshaken by the negative developments.
“We acted in a manner that was justifiable and based on the facts that were in front of us. We will always strive to be transparent with our decisions,” he said.
Zikalala said the province was discussing the issue with Mantashe. He said the provincial leadership would visit branches to explain its decision to allow the affected branches to participate.
The Mercury