Durban — Disbanding the KwaZulu-Natal ANC leadership would be the greatest Christmas present for the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) as many ANC members would defect to the splinter party.
This was a stern warning to the ANC National Working Committee (NWC) by political analyst Professor Lesiba Teffo, as the party structure contemplates dissolving the leadership.
Weighing in on the widespread rumours that the NWC has already recommended to the party’s highest decision-making body in between conferences, the National Executive Committee - to disband the provincial leadership, Teffo warned that the decision would mean the death of the ANC in the province and a big Christmas present for MKP as the party will be the biggest beneficiary.
The Professor further warned the ANC that it currently has no one to deploy to KwaZulu-Natal to match Jacob Zuma, adding that Zuma was not only a factor in the province but nationwide.
He said it must be remembered that Zuma single-handedly defeated the ANC nationally not only in KwaZulu-Natal by forcing it below 50%, saying if it was not for Zuma’s MKP, perhaps the ANC would have still gotten above 50%.
“The ANC should rather strengthen the provincial leadership than disband it because that would be the death knell.
“At this juncture disbanding any structure will make things worse and benefit MKP.
“Secondly, it would be unfair to disband provincial leadership and leave the NEC, because it would mean only the provinces were being held accountable not the national leadership.
“If you disband them for the electoral poor performance, you rather disband the entire national leadership unless the leadership gives us another reason,” warned Teffo.
Furthermore, the professor warned that the ANC’s renewal was unlikely to succeed in the immediate future and he did not see anyone that could replace Cyril Ramaphosa and save the ANC.
He stated that the party had gone in the wrong direction for too long and the person who would take over from Ramaphosa would not be able to renew the party.
On Monday, Siboniso Duma and Bheki Mtolo’s Provincial Executive Committee was summoned to Gauteng by the national working committee to give an account of why the party dropped from 57% to 17% in the May general election.
It is reported that the province cited Zuma’s popularity as the reason for its poor performance, however, speaking to the media after the meeting, the party’s Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula appeared not to accept the explanation. He said whatever may have caused the drop warranted an intervention because “it can’t be business as usual” and no one should tell the party not to act while the party was dying in the province.
Although he announced that the provincial leadership would know the outcome in two weeks, the rumours were that the National Working Committee which summoned the Duma and Mtolo’s leadership had recommended the disbandment.
Some have attributed their poor electoral performance to their weak relationship with the Zulu Royal family.
Duma and Mtolo, both products of the youth league were elected in the 2022 conference where they defeated former chairperson Sihle Zikalala and secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli.
Some cast doubt that the two will succeed since there is a strong belief that for any party to win the traditional Zulu voters, the leadership must have a strong appeal to Zulus loyal to the Zulu kingdom.
The two leaders both grew up in the south of the province, an area that historically has no strong ties with the Zulu kingdom politics.
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