Durban - The African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal says it has “adequately addressed” grievances that led to the party’s attempt at running its provincial conference last month being successfully interdicted by unhappy members.
Speaking at the party’s provincial head office in Durban on Tuesday, coordinator Sihle Zikalala said the party’s National Dispute Resolution Committee (NDRC) visited KwaZulu-Natal to deal with appeals and grievances from the Lower South Coast, Moses Mabhida and Harry Gwala regions.
Led by deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte, the NDRC “remained in the province until all appeals and grievances were adequately addressed,” said Zikalala.
The provincial ANC was ready for its conference he said, as no issues had been left unattended.
“The provincial task team (PTT) implemented the NDRC decision which relates to the complaints [and] disputes raised on the preparation on the provincial conference,” he said.
“All of the decisions of the NDRC were collectively implemented and processed by the PTT deployees, the national and provincial organising teams in the three mentioned regions.
“These regions have regional task teams established that are working together with the PTT in ensuring that all preparations for the regional conferences are done properly and all is above board as per the constitution of the ANC.”
This is the ANC’s second attempt at re-running its 2015 provincial conference, which was declared null and void by the Pietermaritzburg High Court late last year.
An attempt to re-run the conference last month had to be aborted after the same court granted an interim interdict that found the attempt to re-run the conference to be “premature and unlawful”.
In their application, ANC members Reshima Brijraj, Moosa Manyoni, Muntuza Bhekithema Mkhize, Siyabonga Hlongwa, Bhekukwenza Protos Ndzimande and Zolisa Nyide said the conference should not run until the party had resolved issues of gatekeeping, membership authenticity and violence in the Lower South Coast, Harry Gwala and Moses Mabhida regions.
All of the above regions have experienced high rates of killings of members and activists that have been labelled “assassinations” by the party itself. The murders are believed to be intra-party disputes over access to government resources and / or attempts to silence corruption whistle-blowers.
Zikalala said that he and provincial convenor, Mike Mabuyakhulu, had met with the aggrieved members and agreed to an out of court settlement.
“We engaged on different issues that were a stumbling blocks to the progress of the movement. The issues were resolved to pave the way for the conference.”
“It was not an easy exercise but we were encouraged by the level of maturity and the foresight of the comrades, while there may have been certain areas of different interpretations of certain events…we are united as ANC cadres in building a strong and united organisation,” said Zikalala.
The conference will take place at the Durban University of Technology from Thursday to Saturday.