Sihle Zikalala
KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala has shared with President Cyril Ramaphosa his plans to resign from his position after losing the contest for ANC provincial chairperson last weekend and being voted off the party’s provincial executive committee (PEC), insiders have told the Mail & Guardian.
Zikalala is said to have met Ramaphosa during this weekend’s ANC policy conference and informed him of his intention to resign as premier, a post he has held since May 2019.
A close ally from the KwaZulu-Natal province said Zikalala, who had served two terms as ANC provincial chairperson, will remain an ANC member of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature.
Zikalala lost the chairperson’s position to MPL Siboniso Duma, a key figure in the so-called Taliban grouping that took all top five posts in the ANC provincial leadership last weekend.
While Duma had publicly committed to refraining from any purge of the defeated slate, Zikalala was voted off the PEC completely, while his top five running mates all made it to the provincial leadership.
A second ANC insider said Zikalala had planned to resign in the next two months, but that his decision was expedited this week as rumours grew that the Taliban grouping would recall him and replace him as premier with deputy chairperson, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu.
Another ANC source in the province said that Duma and Zikalala had held a one-on-one meeting last Monday after the provincial conference but that the content of the meeting was not clear at this point.
“The chairperson had made it clear that Sihle would not be recalled, but there were tensions over him staying that have been getting worse this week. There is talk that the deputy chairperson wants the job. The relationship between the two of them has been bad since Covid-19 times and has gotten worse,” the source, who declined to be named, said.
The insider said Zikalala would have to inform ANC provincial officials, led by secretary Bheki Mtolo, who are due to meet on Monday.
Months after Zikalala was elected as chairperson in 2015, the sitting premier, Senzo Mchunu, was recalled by the ANC and replaced with Willies Mchunu, who had successfully stood as Zikalala’s deputy.
Immediately after Zikalala’s defeat as chairperson, speculation over his political survival began, as did rumours of a push from Simelane-Zulu’s backers for his recall.
Zikalala had not responded to questions from the M&G at the time of writing.
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