Durban - Further divisions have hit the ANC eThekwini region, with one faction accusing the party’s national executive of interfering in who is elected as the leader of the region.
This follows party secretary-general Gwede Mantashe’s meeting with the KZN provincial leadership on Friday, when he instructed it to rerun the conference in which eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo was elected as the regional chairman two weeks ago.
ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa confirmed that Mantashe held serious talks with the provincial leadership, but refused to discuss the meeting’s agenda.
“We won’t entertain the possibility of the rerunning of the conference; the one we had was credible and legitimate,” said an ANC source.
Apparently Mantashe called the meeting after getting 32 letters disputing the outcome of the regional conference.
While the news has been welcomed by some members, others have accused Mantashe of interfering and not allowing the provincial leadership to handle the matter on its own.
“First he wrote a letter ordering the disqualification of branches from taking part in the conference, and now he is bringing the party into disrepute with this conference rerun thing,” said a party leader, who wished to remain anonymous.
Mantashe had said in his first letter that wards 16 (Pinetown), 30 (Mayville/Sherwood) and 74 (Lamontville) were to be excluded because they were not audited and their information was missing from the regional office.
The party member said that provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala’s statement made it clear that delegates had taken “a political decision” to allow the wards to participate in the conference.
Zikalala had been speaking during a press conference last Tuesday after a faction of the local ANC took to the streets and protested. He said the conference was credible and legitimate, and that the party took a political decision to allow the three branches to take part.
Disgruntled members had accused Nxumalo of “stealing” his position as head of the ANC in eThekwini during the run-off with regional treasurer Zandile Gumede, by hiding the letter from Mantashe. They believed that the letter could have changed the outcome of the conference.
“The conference was credible and legitimate. Yes, there were discrepancies arising from the conference, with allegations that branch general meetings’ attendance registers were signed by members who were not in attendance, but an investigation is already under way,” said the source.
Before finally sitting on February 14, the conference was postponed twice because of fighting among factions. Those who feel that Gumede should have won have praised Mantashe and the national leadership for acting swiftly when the legitimacy of the conference was questioned.
“The provincial executive committee was wrong to debate the instruction from the secretary-general in the first place. Theirs was to comply and complain later because that is how we do things in the ANC,” said another ANC source.
Political analysts Protas Madlala and Imraan Buccus both said the national executive had a responsibility to act if they received a complaint about issues in the region.
“The buck stops with the national leadership and the fact that Mantashe’s previous instruction (in the letter) was ignored makes one wonder what the provincial leaders must have thought when they did that, because it has obviously widened the divisions,” said Madlala.
Buccus said the divisions were linked to the politics of patronage and whoever ended up as the chairperson had a huge responsibility to unite the region before next year’s local government elections.
The party’s provincial executive members were locked in a meeting until late last night and the issue of the conference was said to have been high on the agenda.
The Mercury