THE troubled KwaZulu-Natal ANC provincial executive body will learn of its fate from its mother body during a special meeting tomorrow.
This follows their under performance in the province which cost the ANC its ruling party status after the May election.
The meeting between the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) and the party’s National Working Committee will be held in Boksburg.
Following an internal memo from ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula that found its way to social media, there were speculations that the PEC was being summoned to be disbanded following its poor performance.
While speculation was that KZN ANC chairperson Siboniso Duma and Secretary Bheki Mtolo were in the firing line, Mtolo hit back saying they had taken responsibility for their failures and President Cyril Ramaphosa should do the same.
Addressing a political class in KwaDukuza this week Mtolo told party members about the importance of taking responsibilities for the organisation’s failures from branch right up to national levels.
He challenged the party’s top brass singling out Ramaphosa and Secretary General Fikile Mbalula for the poor showing at the polls.
“You see comrades the ANC at national level got 40% meaning they lost the country by 40%. The National Executive Committee led by Baba Ramaphosa and Baba Mbalula lost the country by 40%. They must take that responsibility,” said Mtolo.
Drawing reference to a series of initiatives, including political classes which the provincial leadership had undertaken in a bid to regain lost ground, Mtolo insisted that they were working hard to rebuild their support.
“Duma and myself are taking our own responsibility of losing the province by 17%,” Mtolo said.
Several party members noted how unprecedented it was for the entire leadership to be called by the ANC top structure, saying this underlined the seriousness of the meeting.
“Normally when there is such an invite it is to review the performance of the structure and given the challenges that have been experienced in the province something could be in the pipeline. I mean, it is highly unlikely that the national leadership will call the provincial structure to wish them a Merry Christmas,” said the ANC member.
However, according to several PEC members, including its spokesperson Mafika Mndebele, the structure would continue to function, but senior party leaders will be deployed to assist it.
“The PEC would never be recalled by the NWC as this is not in our constitution,” said Mndebele.
He said the meeting would be a continuation of previous meetings to strengthen the provincial structure.
“There is a commitment and resolution of the NEC (national executive committee) to strengthen the KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng and we keep on discussing that.
“This why KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng have been called to the meeting and there is nothing out of the ordinary,” said Mndebele.
During several national leadership meetings with structures, including branches, in the province, members complained about the under performance of councillors and also factionalism.
Another PEC member said ordinarily, the NWC would come to the province if it wanted to meet the PEC.
“But they decided to hold this one out of the province maybe because whenever the NWC comes here, there would be many campaigns calling for the disbandment, I think that is why they decided that the meeting should be held in Gauteng.
“This (meeting) is along the line of Fikile Mbalula’s announcement that certain provinces would be beefed up, and I think they want to communicate that decision before the NEC meeting on December 13 and 14 to prepare for the January 8 statement,” said the PEC member.
He said that beefing up the province would mean bringing senior party leaders to assist the provincial structure.
“To understand this, look at how senior leaders have been assigned roles such as Mike Mabuyakhulu (ANC KwaZulu-Natal deputy chairperson) given the role to work in Durban, and Sbu Ndebele (former ANC chairperson) who has also been assigned,” said the leader.
Following concerns about the collapse of service delivery in Durban, Ramaphosa announced Mabuyakhulu and Phindile Baleni, the Director-General in the Presidency and Secretary of Cabinet as co-leaders of the Presidential eThekwini Working Group formed “to support and accelerate efforts by the eThekwini Municipality to improve service delivery, improve business confidence, and reposition eThekwini as an investment and tourism hotspot.”
ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri did not respond to questions sent to her.