DURBAN - FOLLOWING the call from some of the biggest ANC regions, regions in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga (Ehlanzeni), Limpopo (Vhembe) and Gauteng (Sedibeng and Tshwane) have joined their counterparts in requesting Minister of Water and Sanitation Lindiwe Sisulu to contest for the Presidency of the African National Congress and subsequently for South Africa.
It is 22 months before the ANC presidential hopefuls go toe to toe and fiercely contest each other for the Luthuli House top office. Lobbying and caucus meetings have silently kicked off ahead of the 55th ANC National Elective Conference in December 2022.
Upbeat supporters for Sisulu, including a senior member of the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC), are working the ground in their attempt to consolidate support for their preferred candidate.
Amid all the endless chaos erupting from factionalism and corruption within the ANC, some believe that only Sisulu can be a unifying force that will bring about change and rebuild the oldest and now crumbling liberation movement.
Ernest Netshivhumbe, secretary of an ANC branch in Limpopo and also a former leader of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) in the Vhembe district, said Sisulu was a unifying force that would revive the ANC and implement all resolutions of all previous conferences of the party.
“Comrade Lindiwe understands the movement, she was born into it. She has a serious task to implement resolutions of the ANC and unite the movement. She has never been part of any factionalism, and never betrayed those who have been at the front-line fighting for the economic liberation of this country. She must now show South Africa that women are good leaders. She is forever destabilised by Stellenbosch because she refuses to be a puppet,” said Netshivhumbe.
He also had a stern warning for Sisulu, saying that if she worked with “big-belly 90’s leaders who are all about looting and reversing all the progress that has been made”, many regions would withdraw their support for her.
Reggie Manikela, a former Regional Executive Task Team member in Mpumalanga, told the Daily News that Sisulu was one of the last honest leaders in the ANC who have defied all odds and resisted being corrupted. He deemed Sisulu a suitable candidate who has good political credentials and lost so much during the struggle for liberation.
“She has refused to be corrupted by the known forces that have successfully captured our leaders. She and her family were tortured and subjected to all forms of abuse, and I doubt she will be a sell-out. Sisulu is the right candidate and we are fully behind her,” said Manikela.
A disgusted provincial leader in Gauteng ANC, who did not want to be named for fear of intimidation, asserted that the ANC was currently in a state of lethargy and taking a wrong direction where criminals were protected as long as they were in the highest ranks of the ANC leadership.
“As such, what makes Sisulu a unique candidate is that she will never work with the enemy that incarcerated and killed Solomon Mahlangu.”
Mahlangu was a freedom fighter, struggle activist and operative of the African National Congress militant wing, uMkhonto we Sizwe. He was convicted of murder and hanged in 1979.
“Regions are not prepared to go and consolidate with a party that killed Solomon Mahlangu. We can’t work with people suffering from inheritance attitude of how their father viewed black people in general. We are not an experiment case. We want Sisulu to emerge and save us,” said the source.
When asked to confirm whether Sisulu would be contesting for the ANC President position, Sisulu’s advisor Mphumzi Mdekazi said people have a right to express their opinions freely.
“We do not have control over people’s opinions or thoughts. We need to remember that in a democratic country, people have a right to freedom of expression. It’s a right that many children of this soil died for, and it’s a right we ought to preserve. Therefore, it is essential to respect people’s opinion even when you might differ,” said Mdekazi.
Daily News