ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula. (Photo: Luba Lesolle/Gallo Images)
The ANC national executive committee (NEC) will decide whether it should dissolve its leadership in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal in the wake of the loss of its majority in both provincial legislatures in the 29 May elections.
On Monday the ANC’s national working committee (NWC) decided to return to KwaZulu-Natal, where the party was reduced to 17% of the vote, to again meet with its structures ahead of a final decision at the month end.
It has been grappling with how to rebuild in KwaZulu-Natal in the face of an exodus of members and leaders to Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party and an unpopular provincial executive committee (PEC) led by secretary Bheki Mtolo and Siboniso Duma.
While earlier NWC discussions have pointed towards dissolving the provincial executive committee (PEC), the ANC has stopped short of doing so, thus far restricting interventions to augmenting the NEC and NWC deployees with veterans from the province, including former provincial chairperson Mike Mabuyakhulu.
But sources in the ANC say the PEC is not likely to survive beyond the end of the month because of the extent of the organisational collapse that has taken place under its leadership.
On Tuesday ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula told a media briefing that the NWC had “affirmed its earlier decision to return to the province and provide feedback to the structures on its own assessment of the state of the organisation in the province”.
Mbalula said that although no decision had been made about KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng or any other province, dissolution of the leadership had been “among the options” that were under discussion.
He denied reports that Duma and Mtolo had been brought before a disciplinary hearing, saying they were briefing the ANC officials on disciplinary matters relating to one of the regions in the province.
“They were briefing officials in relation to one municipality and the decision the PEC has taken in respect of that municipality. The reports that they were summoned to face the official on a disciplinary matter are lies,” Mbalula said.
“When a member is called before the officials they are not called for discipline, but for engagements. The officials are a political structure and not a disciplinary committee.
“There is no decision we have taken on the two provinces. We know what is happening in these provinces before the elections and after and there are developments in these provinces. In the next two weeks, by the time we get to the NEC, we will have met with these provinces.
“The decision about what must happen there is not one-sided. It is about the NWC engaging with the comrades in these provinces. If we have to take the decision to disband, we will take it, but you don’t just wake up and disband.”
Mbalula confirmed that the party had summoned Gauteng chairperson Panyaza Lesufi
to explain his criticisms of the government of national unity (GNU) and his comments on coalitions in the province’s metro councils.
But he denied media reports that the meeting had been a heated one and that there had been an intention to censure Lesufi, whose comments — and reluctance to work with the Democratic Alliance — have been seized upon by the DA’s federal chairperson, Helen Zille.
Luthuli House moved at the weekend to silence Lesufi over his public criticisms of the GNU, issuing him with a summons to explain his comments, which contradicted the NEC’s position on who it would work with.
In a letter, Mbalula told the Gauteng premier that his “public utterances” over the unity government and local level coalitions “clearly go against the resolutions made by the national executive committee” and instructed him to appear before the officials on Monday.
But on Tuesday Mbalula said Lesufi had explained himself in a satisfactory manner at the meeting, which was “cordial”.
“Comrade Panyaza, like all other comrades, presented himself to the officials as requested, got counselling and presented his side of the story. Comrade Panyaza provided an explanation that was accepted by the officials,” Mbalula said.
“This is consistent with the organisational culture of the ANC, which requires of us to give
comrades a hearing when there is reasonable apprehension that their conduct may place the ANC in disrepute.”
He said the ANC had a responsibility to “engage” with Lesufi, as a party leader, “if there are perceptions through his utterance that suggest there is conflict between province and national”.
It was a “distortion” that Lesufi had been called to Luthuli House to be disciplined.
“Comrade Panyaza explained himself. Discipline runs supreme in the ANC,” Mbalula said.
He said the ANC would meet the South African Communist Party next Monday for a bilateral discussion about the recent criticisms of the GNU by the SACP’s secretary general, Solly Mapaila.
Mbalula said the NWC had observed that the unity government “continued to inspire confidence and support from among a wide range of political parties and sectors of society, including business”.
This was reflected in opinion polls, business and consumer confidence indices, the stock and property market and “augurs well for the stability of the country” following the outcome of the 29 May national and provincial elections.
Earlier in the day, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal also rejected claims that Duma and Mtolo had been summoned to a disciplinary hearing on Monday and that the province was about to be disbanded.
In a statement Mtolo said the meeting was “a normal organisational interaction between various structures of the movement focusing on processing organisational matters”.
He said the meeting with the national officials had been “very cordial” and that they were “encouraged” by the support extended to the province by them.
He said that ANC structures in the province should “remain calm.”