Durban — Former president Jacob Zuma and former KwaZulu-Natal premier Willies Mchunu have endorsed businessman Sandile Zungu for the chairperson position in the coming ANC provincial conference.
It was revealed by Zungu during his final push campaign for the all-powerful provincial post in Ulundi on Sunday.
Addressing party supporters, Zungu said when he was approached by ANC members last year to avail himself for the position, he consulted many party leaders, including Zuma and Mchunu, who gave him the green light.
Before the rally Zungu visited Inkosi Zungu in his residence in Wela village to ask for the ancestral blessings. The inkosi gave him a cow shield as a symbol of protection from enemies.
Outlining his vision for the party, which he dubbed “Fresh Approach”, Zungu vowed to revive the ANC like he did the AmaZulu FC, saying those who approached him told him they wanted him to do to the ANC what he achieved at the club.
When he bought it, it was in danger of being relegated to a lower division but under him the club finished in second position.
Zungu said one of the reasons why the ANC was collapsing was because its leaders have socially distanced themselves from the party.
He said this was evident during the floods, where the ANC was nowhere to be found to assist people, adding that current leaders confuse government and the party.
“Where was the party during floods. Have you seen them organising TLBs and shovels to go and assist families in digging to search for missing people? “As we speak we are told there are 40 people still missing but we don’t see ANC with the families digging yards to search for the missing,” said Zungu.
He further blamed the party for not doing or saying anything about the closure of Engen and Sapref refineries in Durban, saying it was supposed to be the party that could have led the campaign fighting the closure.
He said it was shameful that the DA-led Joburg municipality was able to use cameras to find a Soweto boy, Khaya Magaxa, who fell into a manhole but the party could not use the same technology to help find the missing people in the province.
Zungu lashed out at people who were questioning his credentials in social media, saying those who think he is a newcomer in the ANC did not know or were ignorant.
He said he joined the party at the age of 14 after seeing how an ANC lawyer Griffiths Mxenge was brutally murdered in 1981 by apartheid police.
“After the unbanning of the ANC in 1990, I was elected as branch secretary in Umlazi in a branch called Mabhida. “In 1992 I moved to Joburg where I also became the branch secretary of Rivonia Heroes Hill branch for three consecutive terms,” said Zungu.
He said it was the ANC that deployed him to lead arms manufacturer Denel as its chairperson in 2005.
He attended the first ANC conference held at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Durban-Westville campus.
He was keen on representing KZN in the top 6.
The ward 12 branch secretary in Ulundi, where he held his last campaign, has already nominated him.
His chief lobbyist, Phohloza Zungu, said many branches in the Mzala Nxumalo region were behind Zungu.
Daily News