Durban - Mayor James Nxumalo has expressed regret for having entered the race for chairmanship of the ANC’s eThekwini region.
He said this had brought him nothing but headaches.
Speaking to his protesting supporters in Inchanga on Thursday, Nxumalo said since he had entered the race he had been “crucified like Jesus Christ”.
“If I had known that it was going to be such a problem I would not have entered. I would have stayed at home,” he said.
Nxumalo entered the race late last year as a compromise candidate to replace Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Bheki Cele, whom the ANC stopped from participating.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe had ruled that Cele could not move from being a national executive committee member to take up a position in the region.
Cele had been nominated to compete with councillor Zandile Gumede to replace former regional chairman Sibongiseni Dhlomo, the Health MEC.
During Sunday’s branch executive meeting of ward four, attended by more than 400 ANC members, Nxumalo received only 16 votes, losing to Gumede – in the mayor’s own ward.
Nxumalo’s camp complained about irregularities, including food parcels allegedly being used to sideline them from nominations.
They said the pro-Gumede branch executive committee had served meals only to their supporters. This had forced hundreds of Nxumalo’s supporters to leave the Michael Gwala Hall to buy meals. On their return they had found the gates locked.
“We told Bongi Sithole-Moloi and Joe Phaahla about this and they promised to attend to it, but they kept quiet about it for the duration of the event,” said Young Communist League branch chairman Sbu Mthombeni.
Sithole-Moloi, a provincial executive member, and Phaahla, a member of the national executive, had been deployed to preside over the nominations.
Sithole-Moloi said only people without ANC cards were locked out of the hall.
“No one informed us about people who were locked out after they had left to buy food.”
Hundreds of ANC supporters used burning tyres, stones and logs to block the main road in the area this week.
Nxumalo said he was on his way to the party’s national general council in Johannesburg when he heard about the violence.
“I was passing Montrose (in the Free State), and I had to drive back,” he said.
He was accompanied by provincial executive member Sipho Gcabashe when he arrived at the gathering on Thursday.
Nxumalo, who was at Sunday’s meeting, said he would like the branch to rerun nominations because there had been “so many issues”.
Nxumalo supporters told Gcabashe that people from outside the ward were bused in to vote in the ward. They said they had not received their membership cards despite having applied more than a year ago. They called on the national executive committee to nullify Sunday’s event.
“This money to buy meals does not come from the ANC. It kills the ANC because it is from business people who cannot even spell ANC, but who have business interests,” he said.
He would table complaints about Sunday’s meeting at the provincial working committee meeting in Durban on Monday.
Branch executive committee spokesman Boy Shozi accused Nxumalo of being behind the protest.
“When the chaos started on Wednesday I warned James to deal with his people. I called him at 5am to tell him to tell his people to stop burning tyres on the road. The rerun should only happen if procedures are not followed, but at our branch we did everything correctly,” he said.
The Mercury