Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal reshuffle that saw Sipho Caiphas “KK” Nkosi appointed as the new MEC for human settlements and public works yesterday appears to have come after suggestions were made by the ANC’s National Working Committee (NWC) in a recent visit to the province.
Yesterday, acting Premier Nomagugu Simelane announced that Nkosi was the new MEC for human settlements and that Dr Ntuthuko Mahlaba, who had previously occupied the post, was the new MEC for sport, arts and culture.
The sport, arts and culture portfolio had been vacant following the resignation of Amanda Bani-Mapena from the provincial cabinet on April 12.
The swearing-in ceremony was presided over by KZN Deputy Judge President Isaac Madondo.
Simelane, who was standing in for Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube, who is abroad, said the changes were made as a commitment to accelerate service delivery.
“Both MECs are community leaders and activists who have worked in various strategic sectors. They have in-depth knowledge of the challenges confronting government and we expect them to fulfil their tasks with integrity while placing the interests of the people of KwaZulu-Natal foremost in the work that they do,” Simelane said.
She added that Nkosi had been a Member of the Provincial Legislature serving with “absolute commitment, diligence and dedication in various committees including as the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Finance”.
She added that Mahlaba has extensive experience as a government leader having served as Mayor of Newcastle Local Municipality from 2019 to 2021 prior to being Public Works and Human Settlements MEC.
The changes come a few weeks after the party’s NWC visited the province and announced that it would deploy a team of national executive committee (NEC) members to the province to help prepare for next year’s national elections.
The NWC plans to return to the province to ensure that governance challenges that it noted during the oversight visit were being addressed.
On leadership in the province, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the party could not deliver if there was in-fighting, purging, patronage and issues of corruption.
“All of those issues we will address with the PEC (provincial executive committee). We need organised leadership that respects the structures and does not act with heavy-handedness. We don’t need an ANC that is riddled with divisions.”
Mbalula said it was difficult to disband a structure but leadership must lead responsibly.
“Where there are signs of purging we need to address that, especially in KZN, to bring sanity and ensure members of the ANC are free and not afraid to raise issues in an orderly manner.”
An ANC source said the NWC had suggested to the provincial leadership that senior provincial leaders must not only come from the Youth League and they were concerned that a purge had taken place in the province.
“We were surprised that it took so long for ‘KK’ to be appointed in a leadership position.
“He served on the finance portfolio committee with aplomb and he is most respected, from the middle generation of leadership.”
The source said the NWC would essentially have presented an ultimatum on changes that needed to be made in the province, even though Mbalula and President Cyril Ramaphosa had denied any intentions to disband the provincial leadership structure in the province.
Political analyst Professor Bheki Mngomezulu said it appeared that provincial leaders of the party were acting on the decisions of the NWC.
“Even though we do not have the minutes of the discussions between provincial leaders and the NWC, the fact that these changes are taking place so soon after the national leaders were here says a lot.
“It has something to do with the discussions and certain things were not happening.”
Mngomezulu said he did not expect too many changes going forward as this might prove disruptive to the party, especially ahead of next year’s elections.
“There will be minor changes where there are deficiencies, but the NWC will not want to be seen as meddling in the province’s affairs.”
Another analyst, Professor Sipho Seepe, said there was no doubt that the ANC at a national level had issues with KZN. “They want to make sure people toe the line, to exert its power at a national level and to try to dilute former president Jacob Zuma’s influence. This is about consolidating power and putting their stamp of authority,” Seepe said.
The KZN ANC said it was confident that Nkosi would speed up the roll-out of socio-economic infrastructure as part of job creation, poverty alleviation, and to ensure improved quality of lives of the people of the province.
“With a strong background in organised labour, having served as the provincial secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (KZN), we believe that Cde KK Nkosi will ensure that all categories of staff pull in the same direction in order to strengthen service delivery in both departments.
“Previously, he served as the chair of the legislature’s portfolio committee on finance. With his wealth of experience, he will ensure that every cent of the budget is accounted for by both departments,” the ANC said.
It said Nkosi’s understanding of the Public Finance Management Act would enable him to ensure that taxpayers’ money was used to build quality houses and that contractors responsible for shoddy service were blacklisted.
“Houses for people displaced by the devastating floods will receive urgent attention. This also includes government infrastructure which was destroyed by ravaging floods.”