The corruption accused former mayor will not be allowed to take office because of the ANC’s step-aside rule. Photo: Darren Stewart/Gallo Images
The election of Mxolisi Kaunda as eThekwini mayor last week will not stop supporters of his predecessor, Zandile Gumede, from trying to return her to Durban’s mayoral parlour by electing her as ANC regional chairperson later this month.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Cape is to hold the OR Tambo regional conference and outgoing chair Oscar Mabuayane’s faction is expected to take the region.
Gumede’s backers will continue to support her as chairperson-elect, despite her appearance along with 21 other accused in the high court in Durban this week on corruption charges stemming from a R420-million waste removal tender that saw the city being fleeced for services it never received.
Kaunda, who replaced Gumede after she was recalled by the governing party in May 2018 over poor performance, is also a key figure in the so-called radical economic transformation (RET) faction in the province.
Kaunda’s election as mayor has been claimed as a victory by the RET faction.
But it also places Kaunda, who sits on the provincial executive committee and was deployed from the transport portfolio in Premier Sihle Zikalala’s cabinet, in a difficult — and potentially unstable — position because some of Gumede’s key backers want her back in city hall.
If Gumede is elected chairperson, this could put her in line to become mayor again because the ANC tends to appoint its regional and provincial chairpersons as mayors and premiers to avoid the creation of two centres of power. Although the RET grouping says Kaunda will stay on as mayor if Gumede becomes chairperson, some of her most powerful supporters are understood to want her to return to the city.
The province managed to hold two of its 11 regional conferences before electoral meetings were put on hold by the ANC leadership to allow the party to prepare for the local government elections.
The remaining conferences — including eThekwini — were tentatively set to be held between 18 December and 20 December, but are likely to be deferred until the new year. The dates are to be finalised by the provincial executive committee on Monday.
Gumede became eThekwini mayor in 2016, after replacing James Nxumalo, who she had defeated in the battle for regional chairperson under controversial circumstances, with Luthuli House overturning an earlier conference outcome which favoured him as regional chairperson.
She was recalled as mayor along with her executive committee in 2018 over poor performance and not the corruption charges, which saw her and a clique of ANC councillors, officials and contractors being arrested by the Hawks. Gumede was re-deployed to the KwaZulu-Natal legislature as an MPL, where she is still serving.
Gumede will head the RET slate, with Musa Nciki as secretary, Zoe Shabalala as treasurer, Thembo Ntuli as deputy chairperson and Nkosenhle Madlala as deputy secretary, despite the party’s “step-aside” rule precluding corruption charged leaders serving in public office until their trials are concluded.
Thabani Nyawose, who was elected as speaker last week, will head the slate backed by ANC president Cyrl Ramaphosa’s faction as its candidate for chairperson.
One of Gumede’s aides said this week that she would continue to head the RET slate, having been nominated by branches loyal to her during the branch general meeting process earlier this year.
“Zandile Gumede is standing. She is still our candidate for chairperson. Mxolisi Kaunda is a member of the provincial executive committee [PEC], so he cannot stand in a regional election,’’ the aide said.
Asked whether the faction would recall Kaunda and replace him with Gumede as mayor should she succeed in becoming chairperson, the aide said this would only be discussed properly after the election.
“Let’s chat after the conference about the mayoral chain,” the aide said.
But Ntando Khuzwayo, spokesperson for the eThekwini branches backing Gumede, said there was no plan to replace Kaunda should Gumede become chairperson.
“Mayors are nominated by the NEC [national executive committee] on the recommendation of the REC and the PEC. Changes should ordinarily arise if there are material problems, but otherwise Kaunda is going to remain mayor even after the conference,” Khuzwayo said.
Khuzwayo said that having a chairperson who is not the mayor would not provide a major political problem for the ANC in the city.
“In fact, the ANC was for the first time having a mayor who is also regional chairperson in 2016. It has always been separate,”’ he said.
ANC KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Nhlakanipho Ntombela said the party hoped to conclude the conferences by the end of the year and would finalise dates on Monday.
In the Eastern Cape, a memorandum sent to the region on 30 November, seen by the Mail & Guardian, indicated that Mabuyane, along with some of his key supporters including MEC for cooperative governance Xolile Nqatha and provincial spokesperson Loyiso Magashela, will be among those deployed by the provincial executive committee to observe the proceedings.
The OR Tambo regional conference will be the litmus test on whether Mabuyane and, by extension, Ramaphosa’s faction will emerge as the firm favourites in the provincial conference scheduled for early next year.
A win for the Mabuyane faction in the region will also mean that ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe has a good chance of lobbying support to become the next deputy president.
The Mabuyane faction has already received a win because its proposed regional chair, Mesuli Ngqondwana was elected as mayor of OR Tambo municipality last week.
The Mabuyane-led provincial executive committee is facing tension with its former allies in the OR Tambo region after the five-year suspension of municipality speaker Xolile Nkompela and deputy mayor Robert Nogumla was overturned by the national disciplinary committee.
Kompela, who once lobbied for Mabuyane against the then chair, Phumulo Masualle, is also said to have changed alliances and now favours Babalo Madikizela as chair. Hopes of those in the coalition of the wounded in the province are said to be resting with Madikizela who they hope can topple or shake up Mabuyane’s firm grasp in the regions and the provincial executive.
The OR Tambo region is the second biggest ANC region after eThekwini and arguably one of the most influential regions of the ANC. It was central to the failed attempt at a third term by former president Thabo Mbeki. The region voted instead for former president Jacob Zuma at the watershed Polokwane conference.
Mabuyane indicated to M&G this year that he would run for a second term.
Mabuyane leads one of the ANC’s biggest provinces after KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo. Winning over ANC delegates and branches when the party heads to its 55th national conference next year — alongside other Ramaphosa allies such as the ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal’s secretary, Mdumiseni Ntuli, and the party’s Limpopo secretary, Soviet Lekganyane — will guarantee Ramaphosa a second term in office.
The proposed slates in the OR Tambo region supporting Madikizela are said to be:
- Chairperson: Tandekile Sabisa
- Deputy chairperson: Dumani Zozo
- Regional secretary: Zama Nondlevu
- Regional deputy secretary: Xolisani Malindi
- Regional treasurer : Bulelwa Nokhanda
The slate expected to have the support of Mabuyane is said to be:
- Chairperson: Mesuli Ngqondwana
- Deputy chairperson: Ntandokazi Capa
- Regional secretary: Hlokomele Tsita
- Regional deputy secretary: Mlamli Ndabeni
- Regional treasurer: Nkosifikile Gqomo
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