ANC in KZN to plead case in meeting with national working committee

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal is pleading its case in a meeting with the party's national working committee (NWC) over its poor showing in the recent polls.

This is the final opportunity for the provincial executive committee to plead its case in the face of an onslaught by NWC members seeking to have it disbanded.

National party spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the meeting is a culmination of various engagements the structures have been holding to diagnose what resulted in the party's drastic electoral decline.

The party only received 17% of the vote in the province — a big decline from 54% in 2019 — while former president Jacob Zuma's new MK Party garnered 45.3%.

“This meeting is a follow-through from an NWC visit that took place to the province and its regions, after which a report was compiled. This formed part of an election analysis, looking at our performance in the past election and identifying urgent matters that need to be attended to,” Bhengu-Motsiri said.

“KwaZulu-Natal contributes highly to the national vote share and it is important to note that we have suffered defections in the organisation.”

She said the party was aware that its structures, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, have been infiltrated by Zuma's agents — a crisis they are working towards eradicating. However, she maintained that they will not waste their time trying to sniff out the moles and instead will be gathering their numbers to consolidate a base again.

“We have been made to believe that we are having people who are said to be working for the MK Party. We are not really in the business of hounding people and second-guessing our own leaders and members. We believe that those who don't find pleasure in the ANC any more are free to go to whichever party.

“We fought for this democracy. We can't be the ones that are subverting it in any way, including conspiring against people who are said to be part of the MK Party. It would be foolhardy for the ANC not to take real stock in terms of our electoral losses and its impact on the state of organisation in the province.”

Despite disbandment being mooted by insiders, Bhengu-Motsiri insisted the party is deliberating over various scenarios to strengthen the party in its historical base of KZN.

“In a nutshell, we are not strong in KwaZulu-Natal and we are not strong enough to withstand a number of challenges that any political organisation faces. This is why we're embarking on this renewal exercise in KwaZulu-Natal.

“It's not just Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal that we are looking at. We will in due course outline what the decision is once the national executive committee meeting has taken place.

“We are looking at all provinces with a view to identifying where we remain strong and solid, but also where there are teething challenges. We do have other provinces that are of concern that we are looking at, but [in] these two provinces it was necessary for us to do so. Science and logic will tell you that to be able to make it in terms of any election, you need KwaZulu-Natal and you need Gauteng.”

The NWC revealed it will not be meeting the ANC in Gauteng on Monday as intended because the provincial legislature has a house sitting.

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