Despite a directive by the ANC’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula to have all internal elective conferences of the governing party suspended to focus on preparing for next year’s elections, two regions of the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) in KwaZulu-Natal have asked to be exempted.
The regions of Mbuso Kubheka (Amajuba district) and Musa Dladla (King Cetshwayo district) have claimed that they are inconvenienced by staying without elected leadership.
They have since asked the secretary-general of the ANCWL at the national level, Nokuthula Nqaba, to exempt them and allow them to convene elective conferences.
The Mbuso Kubheke region intends to host its regional elective conference this coming weekend (October 6-7).
In a letter to Ndaba, which was sent by Matho Shozi, the coordinator of the provincial task team, it was said that should Nqaba grant them the request to convene it, it would go ahead.
Shozi told the region to halt all preparations until they had been given the green light to host the conference. She insisted that the region is ready to convene the elective conference.
“In view of the inconvenience to be suffered by the region, the PWTT (sic), wrote to the SGO (Secretary-General Office) to request that the region be allowed to hold the conference on 6 to 7 October 2023.
“For now, the RTT (regional task team) should not continue with the preparation until we get a go-ahead from the SGO,” Shozi wrote to the region.
The spokesperson of the provincial task team, Majobe Msomi, confirmed to IOL that they indeed wrote to Nqaba’s office.
She also confirmed that the Musa Dladla region of the league also asked to be allowed to convene and elect new leadership, as they were also ready.
“The request was not only for Mbuso Kubheka Region, but Musa Dladla was also included. The inconvenience that the two regions are going to suffer is that preparing for a conference is a lengthy exercise which is time-consuming, then when the two regions are eventually ready, they are behind the due date,” she said.
Furthermore, she said all these preparations should not go to waste and admitted that the final decision rests with the ANC’s NEC (National Executive Committee), the mother body.
“When the next round of conferences comes, they will start the process all over again. The request letter was written to the ANCWL Secretary General Cde (comrade) Nokuthula Nqaba, not Cde Mbalula (as claimed).
“However, after all was said and done, there is a final decision of the NEC that there are no more conferences to be held until after the general elections 2024,” she added.
IOL Politics