Whoever emerges as the mayor of the eThekwini municipality after the May 18 local elections will represent a reconfiguration of the ANC’s power in the region. As one ANC provincial executive committee member said: “The one strongman show is no longer the solution for eThekwini.”
This was a direct reference to John Mchunu, the former secretary and chairperson of the powerful eThekwini region, who died last year. The worst-kept secret in the municipality in the past 10 years was that Mchunu, rather than mayor Obed Mlaba or municipal manager Mike Sutcliffe, wielded the real power. He was allegedly behind the dispensing of municipal tenders to cronies and even to his personal businesses — often without following due process.
He was Jacob Zuma’s supreme mobiliser, organiser and backer in his push for the ANC’s top job. He ensured that crowds were bused in for Zuma’s court appearances in Pietermaritzburg, usually on municipal buses; he organised protests calling for the disbanding of the Scorpions; he helped fund the “Zunami”; and he controlled one of the largest voting blocs at the ANC’s 2007 conference.
The party’s provincial leadership does not want so much power and autonomy vested in one person, or one party position, again — especially as the municipality must manage a massive R28,69-billion budget this financial year. They are keen to ensure “strong administrative capacity and leadership in eThekwini so that there are no repeats of the past”, one provincial leader said.
There are also fears that the culture of kleptocracy — with the municipal purse as the main resource — could be further entrenched in the region. But this has caused tension — some regional executive committee members want to maintain the status quo. “There’s a sense among some comrades that it’s their turn to eat,” said one ANC insider.
The Mercury recently reported that the ANC’s provincial leadership ignored the regional executive’s list of mayoral nominations — current speaker James Nxumalo, and councillors Nomvuso Shabalala and Nigel Gumede — and that another list of names was sent to the office of Kgalema Motlanthe, who is charged with deployment decisions.
But the provincial ANC said this week that the party would nominate mayoral candidates only after the poll because of a danger of “polarising comrades before the election”.
The ANC’s proportional representation list is telling: acting regional chairperson Stanley Xulu tops the list, which includes Nxumalo (3) and Gumede (5), but some candidates have strong ties with the provincial leadership. Cyril Xaba (12), special adviser to premier Zweli Mkhize, has been mentioned as a possible mayor.
Caught on the wrong side of the Mbeki-Zuma divide, he has been brought back into the fold by Mkhize. Another factor is the ANC’s guidelines on gender balance — provincial spokesperson Makhosi Khoza has also been mentioned in the mayoral debate. Others seen as more amenable to the instructions of the province than the region are deputy mayor Logie Naidoo and municipal chief whip Fawzia Peer.