Former eThekwini mayor and eThekwini ANC regional chairperson Zandile Gumede has pleaded with the party's warring factions to reconcile and unite ahead of the epic 2021 local government elections battle.
Gumede said party members must not place themselves above the party’s structures but subject themselves to its principles and forget about gunning for positions at any cost. She said the ultimate cost would be to destroy the party.
Gumede who is the deputy convener of the ANC eThekwini regional task team and a frontrunner ahead of the regional conference billed for early next year, was speaking in Chesterville in Durban on Sunday. This was during a memorial lecture to mark 20 years of the assassination of ANC freedom fighter, Vuyani Nkosi who lived in the township and was the son of former KZN Premier Willies Mchunu.
Video: Sihle Mavuso/Politics.
Gumede said it was troubling to note that some ANC members now find it easy to hate their own comrades so much that they prefer to associate with opposition parties than their own comrades.
She said those members should ask themselves if they are not undoing the great work of the likes of Nkosi who fought hard for freedom and to build the ANC into the formidable force it is now.
Video: Sihle Mavuso/Politics.
Speaking at the same lecture, Bheki Ntuli, the deputy coordinator regional task team member and in the slate opposed to Gumede’s re-election bid, also preached unity among ANC members in the region.
Ntuli said the appetite for positions should not be a priority to an extent that members can even destroy the ANC.