Durban - Claims about a plot to kill ANC KwaZulu-Natal chairman Senzo Mchunu were a “pack of lies designed to sow division among ANC leaders”, the party’s provincial secretary, Sihle Zikalala, said on Monday.
The Sunday Times published a story this weekend alleging that an employee at the office of the premier had tried to poison her boss’s meal. The paper said Mchunu was alerted to the danger before he ate and the plot was foiled. It was alleged that details of the plot were contained in an intelligence report handed to the premier.
However, Zikalala described the claims as “fabricated lies directed at dividing our glorious movement”.
“No one in the ANC leadership knows anything about the reported attempts to poison the chairman and, equally, no one knows about the reported intelligence report, which is said to have revealed that there was an attempt to poison food prepared for comrade Mchunu,” said Zikalala.
It has been reported that a faction in the ANC has been lobbying for Zikalala to replace Mchunu as premier during the party’s provincial conference next year.
But Zikala said: “We share the common understanding that we will not allow people to divert our attention from the task of strengthening our movement and serving the people of this province. The reported fierce contestation for leadership positions does not exist, as the ANC in KZN will only have the conference in 2016.”
ANC insiders insisted on Monday that the plot issue was common knowledge in the party. They said the ANC did not want to reveal it for fear that it would cause divisions.
“Two senior party leaders have been implicated in the plot. They used this woman because it was known that she was not on good terms with Mchunu,” a source said. It is alleged that after finding out about the plot, Mchunu called a meeting with senior members of the ANC, Cosatu, SACP and South African National Civic Organisation to inform them about the danger he was facing.
“He then redeployed her to the provincial Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
“This woman was employed while (ANC treasurer-general) Zweli Mkhize was the premier, and since Mchunu moved to the premier’s office, he never got along with the woman,” the source said.
Another source said Nxumalo’s supporters were in favour of having the ANC provincial conference brought forward from 2016 to late this year so the party could go united to the local government elections.
However, Zikalala insisted that the conference would take place in 2016.
“There will be no conference in the near future, and we are busy with our serious organisational programmes,” he said.
The Mercury