The ANC has confirmed that it has finally expelled its former president, Jacob Zuma. (Oupa Nkosi)
The ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive committee (PEC) has kept Jacob Zuma involved in all its plans for its conference scheduled for 23 and 24 July, highlighting the former president’s continued influence in the running of the ruling party in his home province.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Mail & Guardian, provincial spokesperson Nhlakanipho Ntombela said Zuma had been taken “on board” as the PEC prepared for its conference and he was “almost aware of all the processes happening within the organisation”.
“Consistently we have those engagements with him as the provincial leadership, to take him into confidence, this is what is happening, how we’re planning to move some of the things and engage his wisdom in some of the issues,” Ntombela said.
He said the province could not afford to downplay the “Zuma enigma” in the province, which — the PEC has observed – was a factor in the poor outcomes from last year’s local government elections when the ANC lost ground in KwaZulu-Natal.
The ANC’s decision to abandon Zuma during his court cases had reflected negatively on the party, Ntombela added, saying this would be reflected in provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli’s organisational report.
Zuma’s influence in the biggest province of the ANC could work against President Cyril Ramaphosa’s allies who are hoping to be elected to the top six positions at the party’s December national conference. Zuma’s importance was emphasised when officials from 11 regions in KwaZulu-Natal visited his Nkandla home as their first order of business after being elected.
The KwaZulu-Natal conference is the last stop before the ANC holds its national policy conference at the end of July. Although the province has sought to ensure that it bounces back from its losses at the 2017 Nasrec conference — when, for the first time, it failed to have any representation in the top six — some party members fear a repeat.
The PEC has raised concern about the emergence of seven names to contest the post of provincial chairperson at its conference and is encouraging the regions to consolidate candidates to avoid a further split. This was part of the problem the province grappled with when at least six of its leaders campaigned for a seat among the top six in 2017.
Ntombela conceded that the level of contestation at the coming provincial conference was an unprecedented anomaly and said the PEC had taken steps to deal with it.
After forming a forum for regional chairpersons and secretaries, the PEC mandated them to discuss and lobby each other for the incoming top five who would drive the province’s agenda at the December national conference, as well as in South Africa’s 2024 general elections. Ntombela said part of the process was to ensure that those not elected would form part of the province’s additional PEC members to avoid a situation similar to the Eastern Cape, where Oscar Mabuyane purged his factional opponents led by Babalo Madikizela.
Ntombela added that KwaZulu-Natal had reflected on the chaos that characterised the Gauteng and Eastern Cape conferences, which ultimately failed to discuss policy positions.
“It’s a do or die conference for the ANC in the province, this one. How we handle the processes, leading to the conference itself, how we handle the conference itself, and most importantly, how we handle the outcome of the conference itself will determine the future of the ANC as a governing party in this province, that’s why we’ve tried to put every system where possible,” he said.
“KaZulu-Natal and Gauteng are the only two provinces that have the highest population in the country and if you can fail in those two provinces to ensure ANC victory, the national victory of the ANC cannot be guaranteed. So we can’t play so that in our time of leadership we’ve collapsed not only the province but the whole country.”
As part of its plans to avoid delays and long discussions about credentials, the PEC has decided that the nominations box will be opened on Monday with pre-registrations expected to commence on Tuesday. He said this will allow delegates to pick up their accreditation on Friday morning to ensure a smooth opening.
On Saturday, delegates will split into different commissions to deliberate their position to prepare for the policy conference, beyond reviewing their four years in office.
“As I’m speaking now, there are only two disputes that are still with the national dispute resolution committee, all the others, we resolved them, and everyone was fine with them. So there can’t be any other reason we can collapse the conference. Fortunately for us, we have seen the experience of Eastern Cape and Gauteng. That is why we are putting all these systems in place to ensure that that cannot happen,” Ntombela said.
To reflect on the waning electoral confidence in the province, Ntombela said the PEC had extended an invitation to all national executive committee members from KwaZulu-Natal to attend the conference for a series of discussions.
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