Durban - No date has been set for the ANC’s hotly contested eThekwini regional conference as violence and infighting continue to mar the increasingly bitter process.
ANC leaders on Monday said that “logistical issues” needed to be sorted out before the conference could go ahead despite highly placed sources telling the Daily News that the weekend of February 13 had been set as the conference date.
The sources said that mayor James Nxumalo had the backing of the majority of the 103 branches across the city who wanted him to assume the powerful position of chairman.
Nxumalo, also the chairman of the SACP, is up against regional treasurer and veteran councillor, Zandile Gumede.
The conference, due to be held on December 13 but postponed twice, has been marred by violence between members of the opposing camps.
Yesterday, Sihle Chiliza, an uMlazi ANC branch secretary, appeared in the local magistrate’s court on charges of attempted murder because he allegedly stabbed a comrade at a branch meeting two Sundays ago.
The stabbing, according to witnesses, was as a result of some ANC members allegedly being refused access to the branch meeting where nominations were due to take place.
Chiliza has laid counter-charges against his alleged victim. He has claimed that he was defending himself.
The case against Chiliza, who is in custody, has been adjourned to February 23.
ANC provincial secretary, Sihle Zikalala, said violence was a concern to the party and they were dealing with it.
“We do have concerns about infighting in the organisation but we are dealing with all that within the structures of the organisation. Right now the situation has calmed down and we are trying to focus the branches on preparation for the conference,” he said.
Zikalala said a date for the conference had not been set as they were dealing with “organisational and logistical preparations”.
Among the reasons for calling off the conference last month was that many branches failed to meet to nominate a candidate.
Only 67 of the 103 branches had nominated their preferred candidates to lead the region.
The quorum to hold a conference is 73. A source, however, told the Daily News on Monday that 76 branches had since met, passing the threshold to hold the conference.
Branches
“Of those branches that have met, 47 have nominated comrade James and 29 have nominated comrade Zandile. It is clear that the branches want James to be chairman but the whole process is being stalled by the minority who are seeing that the numbers are not on their side,” the source said.
Another source said that there was growing rebellion within the branches over the current leadership style around the fact that the branch numbers had dropped from a high of more than 100 000 in 2012 to about 40 000 now.
“During the last election, the ANC lost 3 percent of the vote in eThekwini and this is a direct result of the poor leadership in the region. We had the strongest region before 2012 and we have now been weakened. If it continues, and it will if Zandile takes over, we are going to see a lot of losses in next year’s local government election,” the source said.
The ANC’s regional secretary, Bheki Ntshangase, said the party had never had 100 000 members in the eThekwini region.
“Who is guessing those numbers and who is telling you that I do not know, but we have never had such numbers that have been audited.
“Towards the ANC conference in Mangaung the numbers never reached that. The numbers are constantly fluctuating because membership expires at different times,” he said.
“On a monthly basis we review and check the numbers. I don’t know what they are talking about, but we are still the highest in the country.”
Ntshangase refused to divulge what the true figure was, as “such things are not given out through the media”.
He also denied that 76 branches had nominated their candidate, saying that the process was still under way.
“There are some other issues, such as appeals and audits of branches that must still be done. Once it passes the audit we must still see which of the branches has passed the threshold (of meeting a quorum). If there are branches still awaiting the audit how can one say they have met? Those people don’t know the process,” Ntshangase said.
Daily News