Durban — Rumours in the political corridors are that the departure of KwaZulu-Natal Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Sihle Zikalala will pave the way for embattled eThekwini municipality mayor Mxolisi Kaunda to return to the provincial cabinet.
Zikalala is expected to hand his resignation on Tuesday (today) to the legislature speaker.
Kaunda was the MEC of Transport before being moved to eThekwini as mayor in 2019, after the resignation of Zandile Gumede.
At the time, Zikalala was still a premier and ANC provincial chairperson.
The Daily News had been previously informed that the ANC in KZN was just waiting to see whether Luthuli House redeployed Zikalala to the national assembly after he was overwhelmingly voted to the national executive committee by the delegates at the ANC 55th national conference last month.
Zikalala’s departure came at a time when president Cyril Ramaphosa was expected to reshuffle his Cabinet, which bolstered rumours that the former premier and ANC provincial chairperson will be appointed to a Cabinet position.
Zikalala surprised many when he emerged as the most popular member, topping the NEC list. Sources said his recall to the national assembly has brought a political lifeline to Kaunda, with whom the ANC leadership in eThekwini were said to not be happy.
“The region’s argument was that when he was brought to eThekwini there was no regional leadership, but now that it has been elected, it was important that it was given a space to run the city, adding that it was them who were voted by the people not Kaunda,” said a source.
Besides the eThekwini ANC push for him to return to the provincial government, Kaunda had also fallen out with the opposition, who blamed him for the collapse of infrastructure in the city.
Today (Tuesday) Kaunda is expected to ward off his first motion of no confidence since he took over in 2019.
Both Kaunda’s spokesperson, Mluleki Mntungwa, and ANC regional spokesperson Mlondi Mkhize referred all queries to the provincial leadership.
Provincial spokesperson Mafika Mndebele said it was premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube’s prerogative to appoint MECs, so the ANC would leave it to her who she will replace Zikalala with.
Mndebele said the provincial leadership had discussed and accepted the resignation of Zikalala after ANC national leadership took a decision to deploy Zikalala to the national assembly.
“Undoubtedly, this resignation has necessitated the reconfiguration of the provincial executive committee. The premier will introduce the new MEC, once the ANC has finalised its deployment process, and completed consultations with structures of the ANC.”
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