The sudden decision by the ANC leadership in KwaZulu-Natal to allow all branches that had been previously disqualified from taking part in various regional conferences has left some grumbling, saying the decision may even delay the much-anticipated eThekwini regional conference.
The decision to give a lifeline to the branches was taken on Tuesday by the provincial working committee (PWC). This was after it was agreed that the eThekwini and Mzala Nxumalo (Zululand) regions should go ahead with their elective conferences on the first weekend of April (1-3) this year.
Out of the 11 regions of the provinces, six are outstanding and five have had their regional conferences. The provincial conference will be held in July this year at a venue that has yet to be determined.
However, in a sudden turn of events, branches that were disqualified either for failing to convene or that could not meet the required quorum to convene, were given this coming weekend to do so to be eligible to send delegates to vote at the upcoming conferences.
In eThekwini alone, 28 of the 111 branches were disqualified, and chief among those branches was ward 1, which is known as KwaXimba ward in Cato Ridge, the Makhosi Nyoka branch in KwaMashu, and ward 92 in Hammarsdale, which is believed to be the ANC's biggest branch in the country, with more than 2 000 members.
Ward 1 in eThekwini was of particular interest because it is the ward of KZN ANC provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli, Bheki Ntuli, the former eThekwini ANC regional secretary, and Thembo Ntuli, the running mate of former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede before the regional conference.
But Nhlakanipho Ntombela, the spokesperson of the ANC in KZN, dismissed the grumblings, saying it would have not been fair to give some branches a chance while leaving out others.
"Some branches failed to meet not because of their mistakes, but because of system failures … This window is opened to all branches that were disqualified so that no one, in the end, will complain and say I lost a conference because my branch was not there," Ntombela said.
In the eThekwini region, the contest will be between two camps, led by Gumede and Thabani Nyawose, the current Speaker of the municipality.
In the Mzala Nxumalo region, Sbu Mhlongo, the incumbent regional chairperson and former mayor of Uphongolo, will be up against his former running mate, Mpumelelo Zulu.