ANC KZN still to decide on who to support at December elective conference

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has dismissed claims that it has instructed branches in the province to nominate former health minister Zweli Mkhize as their preferred presidential candidate at the party’s elective conference in December.  

ANC provincial spokesperson Mafika Mndebele told Business Day on Wednesday that no decision had been made and the statements on Mkhize were attempts to divide the region.

Some ANC insiders in the province told Business Day that when the regional executive visited former president Jacob Zuma in Nkandla recently it was to align with Mkhize as the preferred candidate to run against current president Cyril Ramaphosa, who is seeking a second term as ANC president.

The faction aligned to Zuma made a clean sweep at the province’s conference in July, resulting in the resignation of premier Sihle Zikalala, a key ally of Ramaphosa in the province.

Nomination for national positions at the December conference were supposed to have been opened on Wednesday, but they were pushed back by a week to allow the party to audit its membership.

Mndebele said the province, which is on a mission to unite the party after a fractious provincial election, had not finalised its nominations. It had instead decided on an approach that allows for the branches to come up with its own list of choices.

“We have opted for this approach simply to allow the regions an opportunity to make their own decisions. It is transparent. It is about unity,” he said.

Thereafter, he said, the party aimed to consolidate the lists for submissions before the deadline. “The meeting with former president Zuma was about uniting the party and drawing on his wisdom to do that. It is a stance we adopted with other party elders and various formations.”

The provincial leadership has established an ANC election campaign team that will be dedicated to planning and executing campaigns to revive all branches in the province and try to attract new members.

Political analyst Prof Bheki Mngomezulu said the new provincial leadership comprises “inexperienced politicians” who would do well to seek advice from senior leaders and party elders.

“The agenda now should be about reviving and rebuilding the economy. This means that whosoever they nominate to stand for key positions at the ANC’s upcoming December national conference must be able to tackle the unemployment, poverty and energy crises in the country,” he said.

Instead of being steeped in “cadre deployments”, the ANC should be looking towards electing decisive leaders who will assist in the rebuild, Mndebele said.

“The division and infighting cost the ANC to lose support in the province and for the first time is leading the eThekwini Municipality through a coalition with smaller parties.

“This could be attributed to the fact that Zuma supporters felt hard done by [due to] his incarceration in 2021 for contempt charges and did not vote in the last election.”

The dwindling numbers at the polls is forcing the new leadership to broker peace and make sure that they speak with one voice in December, said Mndebele.

“The province has the largest membership and has always been considered a deal-breaker when it comes to deciding the ANC’s top six. In 2017, it was a deeply divided ANC KZN region in Nasrec and no KwaZulu-Natal leader made it to the top six. Clearly there are efforts to learn from those mistakes,” he added.