A HIGH-level committee led by high-profile veterans has been set up to assist the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal in recovering the support lost during the May 29 general elections to former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP).
Party provincial spokesperson Mafika Mndebele said the committee would be co-led by former premier Sbu Ndebele, former MEC Wesizwe Thusi and National Working Committee (NWC) member Sibongile Besani. It would work hand in glove with the NWC and the provincial executive committee (PEC).
“This is to assist us in ensuring that we rebuild the structures,” said Mndebele.
Mndebele said much work to reclaim the lost ground had already started.
ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe said this week that the party in the province “must start from scratch, it’s destroyed”.
Mndebele said Mantashe did not mean that the provincial leadership structure had been destroyed, but “some areas ”.
“We agree with that view and we are already strengthening. As you can see, we are coming back quite strongly if you compare the by-elections and the numbers we have received with the last general elections. There is a huge improvement in many areas,” he said.
According to the results of by-elections held on Wednesday, the party retained Ward 24 in Ray Nkonyeni Municipality, South Coast, by 59% compared to just over 42% it achieved during the 2021 local government elections.
However, it lost Ward 14 in the same municipality to the MKP, which received 50.64% of the vote.
In both wards, the MKP, which was marked by factionalism, had pulled all the stops to remove the ANC from power, including bringing in its heavy-weight national organiser Floyd Shivambu and secretary-general Sifiso Maseko to address rallies as part of a week-long campaign.
The ANC also retained its ward in Mpofana Municipality while it failed to defeat the IFP in Nkandla and DA in five wards in eThekwini, Umdoni and KwaDukuza.
After the party’s NWC, including President Cyril Ramaphosa’s, visit to the province a few weeks ago to assess the state of the ANC in KZN, the provincial structure was relieved to hear that it was not going to be disbanded.
The outcome of the general elections in the province affected the party across the country, leading to the formation of the Government of National Unity as the party had lost its ability to govern alone. In the province, the party lost power when the MKP won the majority of votes but not enough to govern alone.
After refusing to enter negotiations, the MKP was left out of the Government of Provincial Unity (NPU), which is led by IFP provincial chairperson Thami Ntuli as premier.
Mndebele said the ANC’s top seven would not be involved in helping the party in the province to regain its support.
“Officials have a lot of work, that is why we have put up a committee that would deal with this,” said Mndebele.
Mantashe said disbanding the provincial structures was not the best option.
“Sometimes people think that to rebuild you must disband, [but] we have tried that many times. It is so difficult to rebuild from disbandment.
“But if you build from the rubble that is there, you build a bit faster,” said Mantashe.
Diagnosing the problem of the ANC in KZN, party general secretary Fikile Mbalula said the problems of the party were within its ranks.
“Members of the ANC, disgruntled or whatever you can say about them, have made a choice not to work for the party but to work for Jacob Zuma,” said Mbalula.
Mndebele agreed with Mbalula that the MKP was a problem for the ANC.
“It is not a small thing to have a former president of an organisation defecting to another organisation, and that of course was going to affect the life of an organisation, and nothing else,” he said.
Mndebele said it was impossible to predict when the task of rebuilding the ANC would be completed.
“It is a funny question to say ‘time frame’ because if you are dealing with these huge problems you can not say two months, three months or so.
“If you working on the life of an organisation, it is an everyday activity. All we can say is that the NWC will be back in KwaZulu-Natal before the end of this month.
“We have already visited all regions accessed, processed, and sent organisers,” said Mndebele.