ANC KwaZulu-Natal chairman Sihle Zikalala has denied that his province has lined up treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize as a “Plan B” candidate in case Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s campaign to be president collapses.
Zikalala revealed that although he had been approached by Mkhize supporters to endorse his candidacy, his province remained behind Dlamini-Zuma.
However, he admitted that he may not bring a delegation that is 100% behind her to the elective conference in December because there were those who supported Cyril Ramaphosa or Mkhize.
“We support Comrade Nkosazana. I think she is going to emerge,” he told the Sunday Times during an interview on Friday.
Zikalala said there were talks to find a solution to the political impasse in KwaZulu-Natal after the High Court in Pietermaritzburg ruled that the provincial conference that elected his executive had no legal standing.
“We have said that we don’t have a problem with convening a conference [to elect new leaders], but the problem is we’re in the middle of a term and there is no reason for convening a conference,” he said.
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