Durban — The EFF in KwaZulu-Natal said it has postponed its elective conference, which was to start on Friday, because of delays in branch verification processes.
The conference, which was expected to be a showdown between chairperson Vusi Khoza and his deputy Mongezi Thwala for the chairperson position, will now be held at the weekend of October 21 to 23 at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban.
Khoza said the postponement was due to administrative hiccups which he said had been caused by the rapid growth of the party.
He said the leadership decided to postpone the elective conference to allow the verification process to be completed so that all branches would participate.
“There is nothing sinister in the postponement except the administrative issues which were caused by the rapid growth of the membership which on the other hand is a good thing. We felt we should postpone it to allow the maximum participation,” said Khoza.
The conference was expected to be opened by the party’s deputy president Floyd Shivhambu and be closed by commander-in-chief Julius Malema.
The national leadership was also expected to pronounce the outcome of its meeting with the provincial leadership of the ANC over the plan to oust the IFP in close to 20 municipalities in the province.
Parties are in discussions to form a coalition with the ANC, which has already started in Gauteng metros. Earlier this week, the EFF helped the ANC to unseat the DA’s Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse and replace her with the ANC’s Dada Morero.
Khoza, who has confirmed his availability if nominated, would face a challenge from his current deputy Thwala, while the current secretary, Sifiso Mthethwa, will fight it out with Umhlathuze deputy mayor and current provincial spokesperson, Nkululeko Ngubane, for the secretary position.
In Khoza’s line-up, Vukani Ndlovu, who is currently a councillor in eThekwini, comes up as secretary. Khoza said he would only decline the nomination if there was a woman candidate because he felt it was time for a woman to lead the EFF in the province.
Thwala, from Newcastle, also confirmed his availability, saying the party’s constitution discouraged members from refusing deployment; therefore he will not disappoint the branches.
Ngubane cited the same clause of the party’s constitution and said since he joined the party he had never turned down any deployment – from being a regional convener in King Cetshwayo to the regional secretary, as well as the provincial spokesperson. Ndlovu also confirmed his availability.
If elected, Ndlovu will be making a comeback in the party’s provincial top hierarchy. Ndlovu defeated Khoza for the chairperson position in the 2015 conference, but his leadership was disbanded in 2017. Ndlovu lost to Khoza in the following year’s conference, but now he is Khoza’s running mate.
A chief lobbyist for Thwala and Ngubane’s slate said ideally the EFF was for the youth. So, as much as they appreciated Khoza’s leadership for increasing support in the province, in the general and local government elections in 2019 and last year, it was time to make way for young blood to take the party to new heights.
The party is on an upward trajectory in KZN, increasing from two seats to eight in the legislature. It did well in last year’s local elections, especially in eThekwini Municipality, where it increased from eight seats to 24.
Daily News