Durban — In an effort to counter the surge of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, the ANC in eThekwini has directed its branches to compile reports on the impact the new party was having on its members.
On Tuesday, eThekwini regional secretary Musa Nciki issued a guiding template to all branches to fill in and return it on January 3.
In the templates – seen by the Daily News– branches were asked to compile a list of members who have joined or have been witnessed mobilising for the MK party.
Branches were also asked to monitor the conduct of alliance partners, especially the SA National Civil Organisation (Sanco). The ANC also wanted its branches to find which influential people in the branches were backing the MK party.
ANC eThekwini spokesperson Mlondi Mkhize confirmed that the party issued a directive to branches.
Mkhize said they were concerned and wanted to know whether there were members of the party associating themselves with the MK while they were still card-carrying members of the ANC.
“It’s true that we have issued the directive. We want to understand clearly what is going on and whether our members are working for this party.
“We had to do so because Jacob Zuma is also Sanco chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal. Sanco has an alliance with us and we have a standing agreement with it that it must campaign for the ANC during elections; not other parties. So, it is important for us to know where they stand,” said Mkhize.
The ANC has no authority to instruct Sanco to remove Zuma as its chairperson, he said, as the organisation has already announced it would not remove him.
An ANC insider in the province said the ANC in eThekwini was targeting Sanco members unfairly with this directive because it refused to take action against Zuma for dissing the ANC while he remains the leader of Sanco which has an alliance with the ANC.
Reacting to the directive, Sanco deputy chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal, Lawrence Dube, hit back at the eThekwini ANC leadership, saying they were disturbed by the singling out of Sanco in the directive. Dube said they failed to understand why the ANC was only worried about Sanco members whereas there were many ANC and Cosatu members who will join the MK party in big numbers.
“We are engaging the eThekwini ANC leadership about targeting Sanco members. Is it suggesting that they do not trust us and think it is us who are recruiting for the MK party?”
Dube said Sanco in KwaZulu-Natal was still fully behind the ANC and would roll out its campaign for elections next month for the ANC to win convincingly in the general elections.
Dube defended Sanco’s position not to take action against Zuma. He urged people to allow Sanco an opportunity to deal with the matter internally.
Dube said the decision to support and campaign for the ANC was taken at a recent conference where Zuma was elected in absentia as KZN chairperson.
At a media briefing last week, Sanco confirmed Zuma had briefed them about his unhappiness with the ANC, but a senior Sanco KZN member said Zuma’s decision was a serious problem because it would be difficult to have the face of Sanco in the province campaigning for another party while the resolution said the organisation would campaign for the ANC.
Addressing MK party members in Verulam, north of Durban, at the weekend, Zuma listed the ANC’s failure to implement the party’s resolution that land must be expropriated without compensation as one of the reasons why he has decided not to vote for the ANC.
He vowed to explain more about what the MK party stood for when election campaigns started. At the media briefing he held on December 16, the former ANC president said the MK party was established with his knowledge and blessings.
Meanwhile, the IFP in KwaZulu-Natal has warned its voters against being deceived by the return of Zuma to active politics via the newly registered MK Party.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, IFP provincial chairperson Thami Ntuli said the people of KwaZulu-Natal knew that Zuma was given a chance to improve their lives but there was nothing they could show of what he did for them. Ntuli believed that Zuma wanted political protection rather than wanting to better the lives of the people. The DA also weighed in, saying it would not be distracted by the emergence of MK or the circus around it in the upcoming elections.
The DA’s chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal, Dean Macpherson, said voters are much smarter than being fooled by people who claim to stop corruption while they are the ones “who sold our country to the Guptas”.
“We remain focused on providing the voters of our province a new future that is free of ANC corruption and cadre deployment that have ruined the lives of millions of people. We remain resolute in our offer to voters of a new future around jobs, access to water and electricity and good governance that puts people ahead of politicians, both past and present,” said Macpherson.
The IFP and the DA are expected to co-govern the province if they manage to bring the ANC below 50%.
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