'We are not dissolving anyone, we are engaging' — Mashatile on ANC KZN, Gauteng meetings

ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile has maintained his opposition to the possible disbanding of the party’s KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provincial executive committees (PECs).

Speaking in KwaZulu-Natal a day after the ANC national working committee’s meeting with the Gauteng PEC, Mashatile said the meetings were not solely aimed at disbanding them.

The ANC performed poorly nationally in the May 29 elections and pinning the blame on the two provinces would not be fair, he said. The party in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng were obliterated at the polls, moving from more than 50% to 17% and 36% respectively.

“Overall we didn’t do well as the ANC. As you know we got 40%, so we don’t want to blame KZN or Gauteng or any other province,” said Mashatile

“We are reflecting as the national leadership. We are reflecting with them. That’s why we met the leadership of KZN [and] that’s why we met Gauteng yesterday [Monday]. The purpose of the meeting was to reflect on what could have gone wrong, what needs to be done.”

The ANC, at its national executive committee meeting in January, has to decide what action to take in the two provinces that performed poorly at the May polls. There is a strong view among some that the provinces, especially KwaZulu-Natal, have to be disbanded or overhauled.

But Mashatile, with ANC deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane, previously told the Sunday Times they do not support any decision to dissolve the structure. In separate interviews, the two ANC leaders said they would rather have the two PECs “reinforced” with strong national leaders.

This week Mashatile said the purpose of the meetings was to consider ways to recover the ground lost at the 2024 polls “rather than blaming one another”.

“I know many people were saying we are calling these provinces because we want to dissolve the PECs. That’s not the case, we are not dissolving anyone. We are engaging, we are coming up with plans,” he said.

“Because it’s holiday time, we’re going to give ourselves time to reflect on the reports we received as the leadership and we’ll meet next year after January 8 to look at the reports.”

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula on Tuesday said the ANC was considering all available options, which included the possibility of disbanding the two PECs.

“Disbandment is a total overhaul — we remove the structure and replace it. Or it can be that we are fine with the status quo and the people are fit for the task with minor tweaks here and there — or we can bring in new people to provide support to the structure,” he said.

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