Durban - Disgraced former eThekwini Municipality mayor, Zandile Gumede, who is contesting the position of ANC eThekwini region chairperson, is prepared to comply with the ANC’s step-aside resolution - even if she is elected regional chairperson at this weekend’s regional conference.
Gumede, currently facing a raft of corruption charges related to the R320 million Durban Solid Waste (DSW) municipal waste tender of 2017, is set to square off with incumbent eThekwini council speaker, Thabani Nyawose, for the chairperson position during the ANC eThekwini’s 8th regional conference at the Durban International Convention Centre (ICC) this weekend.
Gumede served as eThekwini mayor from August 2016 until she was compelled to step aside by the ANC in September 2019 in the wake of the corruption charges and also stepped aside as a member of the Provincial Legislature in May 2021.
She says she is prepared to abide by the party’s contentious step-aside resolution.
Speaking to the Sunday Tribune, Gumede said both the country’s Constitution and the ANC constitution declared that an individual was not guilty until proven otherwise. She maintained that, for now, she remained a suspect and it was for the court to prove her guilty of the charges levelled against her.
“The step aside is very clear. It doesn’t infringe a person’s rights or the rights of those who wish to select that person. You are elected, and when that is done you step aside.
“Also, since the branches say I must be the chairperson, I do have a deputy, and it’s not about me, it’s about the collective.
“So this doesn’t affect me at all and I am very clear that I will write a letter and step aside after the branches have elected me.
“I want to reiterate that this case is non-existent and when the right time comes I will get back to my job and carry on working,” Gumede said.
She added that as part of the step-aside resolution it had been agreed at national level by the ANC that the party would not stand in the way of a person contending for a position, but that they would then volunteer to step aside.
Political analyst Professor Bheki Mngomezulu said the ANC was not clear on what the resolution meant by “serious allegations”, and what compounded matters for the party were some of the previous declarations on the resolution by the provincial executive committee of the ANC in KZN.
Mngomezulu referred to ANC KZN provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli saying that if somebody stepped aside in a previous position, it then did not make sense for that person to avail themselves in another election because even if they emerged victorious they would be forced to step aside again.
“The step-aside rule was not clearly thought through. At the time when it was adopted in 2017 emotions were high, excitement was there, but then people did not think ahead and now reality is sinking in.
“Gumede is basically saying ‘I didn’t nominate myself, I was nominated by ANC branches, therefore I’ll comply’. But then, on the other hand, you still have the step-aside rule which is also an organisational decision or resolution which means that all members are supposed to abide by that,” he said.
Mngomezulu said Gumede’s stance to forge ahead with contesting was justified because of the lack of clarity on the resolution.
“Maybe this is a time for the ANC to clarify this resolution because there is more confusion as far as the application of this resolution is concerned. So let’s see what will happen after the weekend because if she emerges victorious then the precedent has been set with the Mpumalanga case and she will be asked to step aside.
“It remains to be seen what is going to happen if Gumede emerges victorious then is asked to step aside. Do you then elect someone else to occupy that position?
“There is no clarity on that, too, so I think what she is doing is right because it will assist all of us, not just the ANC,” Mngomezulu said.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE