Can Nxumalo wear three hats?

03/11/2014 Durban EThekwini Municipal Mayor James Nxumalo PICTURE: SIBUSISO NDLOVU

03/11/2014 Durban EThekwini Municipal Mayor James Nxumalo PICTURE: SIBUSISO NDLOVU

Published Jan 12, 2015

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Durban - Concerns have been raised about eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo continuing to run for the position of eThekwini regional chairman of the ANC after his re-election as SACP provincial chairman.

Nxumalo was re-elected during the SACP provincial conference held in uMzimkhulu last week.

His re-election has given opponents within the ANC new ammunition against his becoming regional chairman.

They said holding three senior positions would be too much for him to handle and could compromise service provision in Durban.

However, Nxumalo’s supporters said he was well capable of handling all three.

Nxumalo is up against ANC senior councillor Zandile Gumede - chairwoman of the municipal safety and social services committee - for the ANC position in eThekwini.

A senior researcher at the city-based Xubera Institute, Xolani Dube, whose organisation monitors local and national politics, agreed with those who felt Nxumalo’s responsibilities would be too much to handle.

“Can he do justice to all these positions? You cannot be full-time in all three positions.

“I don’t think that it is humanly possible to be SACP and ANC chairman at the same time and still be a mayor,” he said.

 

Nxumalo’s deputy in the city, Nomvuzo Shabalala, has been elected as the SACP deputy chairwoman and is a member of the ANC provincial executive committee.

 

Shabalala, who is also an SACP provincial executive committee member, said she believed there was no problem if Nxumalo ran for the chairmanship of the region since his job, both in the SACP and ANC, would only be to chair meetings.

“The responsibilities of the chairman come only when there are meetings to chair. Those meetings are scheduled only according to time when he is available,” she said.

The contest for leadership in the region has caused infighting in the branches, leading to the elective conference twice being postponed.

ANC insiders said the province had come up with January 30 as the new date for the conference. However, ANC provincial spokesman Bongani Tembe could not confirm this. The new date will depend on whether outstanding branches were able to meet, nominate candidates and appoint delegates.

The party needs at least 71 of its 103 branches to attend the conference.

Four branches in the south of Durban were to sit on Sunday afternoon, and it was hoped this would go well.

“We now need at least 13 more branches in order to have sufficient number of branches,” said an ANC member.

The Mercury

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