Durban — A looming decision of the ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) to possibly disband the once-powerful eThekwini region has irked some leaders in the region, which was once the biggest and most influential in terms of membership.
Speculation has been gaining traction that the PEC, led by provincial chairperson Siboniso Duma, had decided to drop the axe on the region, led by Zandile Gumede as its chairperson.
The region, which once jealously guarded its dominance, has been losing its grip on supporters, with many ditching the party in favour of the Jacob Zuma-led uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), which swept many wards in the region during the May elections.
The PEC, the highest authority in the province between conferences, held a two-day meeting which ended on Monday to decide, among others, the fate of the region. The party is expected to call a press conference on Wednesday or Thursday.
Without mentioning names, a long-standing ANC leader, Mlondi Mkhize, who is part of the region as its spokesperson, bemoaned the PEC’s stance of allegedly targeting certain regions instead of embarking on a wholesale assessment of the party’s performance in the elections.
“If a party such as the ANC drops in support, you don’t do an assessment of just one region. You do an assessment of the entire organisation lest you will be seen as embarking on a witch-hunt campaign,” Mkhize said.
“You don’t single out regions. That is just a recipe for the ANC to continue on the downward spiral,” charged Mkhize.
His utterances point to his possible knowledge of the pending disbandment of the region despite him not openly acknowledging it.
Mkhize did not confirm whether they had been informed of the pending decision.
“We are awaiting the decision of the PEC. We don’t know what will happen to the region, but if they decide to disband us, life goes on. We will continue to work for the ANC regardless.”
The ANC is still reeling from the bruising elections where the party plunged from 54% to 18% in KwaZulu-Natal, a province the party had governed with an outright majority since 2004.
“Such results call for proper analysis and not this targeting of certain regions when others are left out. This will not help the ANC,” said Mkhize.
In a somewhat thinly veiled attack on the provincial leadership, Mkhize lashed out, saying some senior party leaders were serving their interests instead of the party’s.
“We have some leaders who are advancing their personal interests over the interest of the party. This is wrong,” said Mkhize.
A source in the ANC said the decision to disband the region was proposed by the provincial working committee (PWC), which runs the day-to-day operations, and ratified by the PEC.
“If you look at the region there has been no leadership coherence as the chairperson (Zandile Gumede) has been busy in court fighting to clear her name on the charges she faces. The regional secretary (Musa) Nciki has also been in court. This leaves the organisation in the region without leadership which hampered us at the elections. The party had to take action,” said a regional source.
Under normal circumstances, the chairperson of the region is deployed as the mayor of a municipality if the party wins elections.
However, this has not been the case with eThekwini region as the former mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, who was not part of the regional leadership, has been mayor of the eThekwini Metro since 2019 after the erstwhile mayor Zandile Gumede was unceremoniously recalled.
The regional leadership was elected in 2022.
When former ANC MP Cyril Xaba was recently elected mayor, the region publicly accused the provincial structure of sidelining the regional leadership.
ANC spokesperson Mafika Mndebele said he was unaware of any pending disbandment of the region. He would not be drawn on whether the PEC would call a press conference this week.
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