WATCH | Guns out as ANC meeting ends in tense standoff

Weapons were drawn as a meeting of ANC leaders in Howick in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands descended into chaos on Monday.

The party is on the eve of holding another regional and provincial elective conference amid divisions.

The meeting in the party’s Moses Mabhida Region had been called to brief branch chairs on the readiness to elect new regional and provincial leadership after the provincial executive committee was dissolved by the Pietermaritzburg High Court in January.

Bodyguards and protectors assigned to some of the leaders had their guns drawn as the meeting spiralled into chaos when a group of branch members‚ insisting they had been sidelined from attending the meeting‚ stormed the gates.

The ANC has been split by camps loyal to President Cyril Ramaphosa‚ erstwhile rival Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as well as those aligned to former president Jacob Zuma.

The party’s leadership in the province has been on rocky ground‚ with a court challenge by a group of “rebels” having successfully nullified the election of the provincial executive committee.

The group sought to nullify the legitimacy of ANC provincial secretary Super Zuma‚ provincial chairperson Sihle Zikalala as well as 38 other ANC leaders following the controversial PEC in November 2015.

In January‚ following the court ruling‚ ANC secretary general Ace Magashule formally suspended the KZN executive and replaced them with an interim structure‚ convened by former KZN economic development and tourism MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu and coordinated by his predecessor and former ANC provincial chairman Sihle Zikalala.

Mabuyakhulu said that the incident on Monday was a great disappointment and that the provincial interim committee had called for reports.

“We have been asking for reports and‚ as the ANC‚ we think it is unfortunate. As a result we must take action by conducting our own investigation and get to the bottom of what happened‚” he said.

“We don’t yet know the reasons for the stand-off. Some members claim they were barred from entering the hall. We are urging every ANC member to behave in a responsible manner.” He said that allegations that shots were fired during the impasse would be investigated by the police.

“Allegations that there was a shooting belong with the police and we would like the them to investigate and let the law take its course.”

Zikalala wasn’t immediately available for comment.