Fighting ANC factions in KwaZulu-Natal threaten Zuma’s succession plans
As SA faces its worst political crisis in a decade with thousands of protesters demanding President Jacob Zuma’s ousting, a key battle to determine who will succeed him is raging on his home turf. The eastern KwaZulu-Natal region accounts for more than a fifth of the ANC’s members, the most of the nine provinces, and has been a springboard for Zuma’s rise to power. During his campaign to win the ANC presidency in 2007, some of his supporters wore "100% Zulu boy" T-shirts, a reference to the area’s dominant ethic group. Now faction fighting there is undermining his attempt to ensure his favoured candidate succeeds him when he steps down as party leader in December. "In all my years in the ANC, I’ve never seen things as bad as this when it comes to unity," said Babu Baijoo, a former speaker of the municipality in Pietermaritzburg, and a party member for 25 years. "The branches have been captured by individuals. It’s a fight for resources and positions." The feud has weakened Zuma’s gr...
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