Delivering his political report at the opening of the three-day KwaZulu-Natal provincial conference on Friday, Mkhize told thousands of delegates gathered at the Newcastle show grounds that ill-discipline and “the emergence of a culture of defiance and disrespect of leadership” were tearing the organisation apart.
“There are members who have deliberately flouted rules of the organisation, persistently disregarding any guidance which itself is rejected with derogatory remarks about elected leadership,” said Mkhize.
“The ANC has not hesitated to act decisively including expulsions as it did in the case of those who brought the ANC into disrepute by holding a sit-in and hurled insults in Moses Mabhida region as well as those who stood against ANC candidates in local government elections. It is in this regard and in line with the decisions of the national general council that we support the decisions of the national disciplinary committee and those of the national dcisciplinary committee of appeal in decisions taken to expel some of the members of the ANC Youth League.”
Relations between the league and ANC structures in KwaZulu-Natal have been strained since Malema called for the removal of President Jacob Zuma at the party’s elective conference in Mangaung, Free State, in December.
The youth league wants to replace the president with his deputy Kgalema Motlanthe, and ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe with Sports minister Fikile Mbalula.
KwaZulu-Natal, the biggest ANC province with 252 600 members, supports President Zuma’s bid for second term.
Knowing their place
Earlier, President Zuma, who officially opened the provincial conference, read the riot to the youth league, adding organisations which are part of the ANC must understand they are not autonomous, and still belong to the ANC.
“Umkhonto we Sizwe, even at the height of the struggle against apartheid, knew their place as being subordinate to the politics of the ANC. A league of the ANC cannot say it is not part of the ANC because then it means you have missed the point. The ANC in the ANC Youth League means that it still belongs to the ANC,” Zuma told delegates.
Delegates at the provincial conference sang pro-Zuma songs in support of his re-election as ANC president, and in one of the songs warned that anyone who would be seen burning his T-shirt at ANC rallies or public meetings would be shot.
The 131 000 voting delegates are expected to elect the new provincial leadership on Saturday.
Among those present at the provincial conference included convenor of the ANC national executive committee deployees and Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele and Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini.
The Mail & Guardian understands that the majority of regions are in favour of retaining the current top leadership under Mkhize, including his deputy Willies Mchunu, provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala, deputy secretary Nomusa Dube and the controversial provincial treasurer and speaker Peggy Nkonyeni.
Nkonyeni and provincial economic development and tourism minister Mike Mabuyakhulu, along with businessman Gaston Savoi, are facing charges of corruption, money laundering, fraud and racketeering arising from allegations that they defrauded the provincial health department by inflating the prices of water purification equipment that Savoi’s company supplied.— Aneesa Fazel