Ann Eveleth
Regarded as the Lion of Natal during his lifetime,=20 Harry Gwala was given the funeral of a political non- entity last Saturday.
Earlier claims by the ANC leadership that 70 000 people=20 would attend rang hollow. Fewer than 20 000 people=20 attended, and the funeral was dominated by those who=20 had a deep-seated dislike for Gwala. His own allies=20 were sidelined, and Winnie Mandela spoke only after=20 putting up a fight behind-the-scenes.=20
With the Inkatha Freedom Party he defeated in the=20 Midlands waiting in the wings to re-stake its claim,=20 Gwala’s deathbed calls for ANC unity were ignored by=20 his opponents’ rush to stamp their authority on the=20 militant region, reclaiming in death the leader they=20 scorned in life.
ANC provincial leaders reacted angrily this week to=20 Winnie Mandela’s open attack on Gwala’s adversaries=20 whom, she said, had poured tributes on Gwala in death=20 though they had never extolled him in his lifetime,=20 raising the “suspicion that many do so from a sense of=20 relief that Gwala has at last been rendered harmless”.=20 The sentiments were, however, also alluded to by=20 Gwala’s former Robben Island comrade, President Nelson=20
Acknowledging he had “crossed swords” with Gwala on=20 many occasions, Mandela said Gwala had been “honest and=20 blunt in raising issues within the ranks of the=20 liberation movement … as he departs, we will all do=20 well to ask ourselves whether we were as forthright to=20 him as he was to us; whether we are as honest as he=20
Those close to Gwala argue that, while Mandela and=20 Gwala differed politically, they clashed on open=20 ground, unlike the back-room plans hatched by Gwala’s=20 other opponents to isolate him in the months preceding=20 his death. Gwala’s opponents were omnipresent at the=20 funeral they arranged for him, with proceedings=20 ironically directed by two leaders whose deaths Gwala=20 was alleged to have plotted — ANC provincial chairman=20 Jacob Zuma and Communist Party deputy chairman Blade=20
As master of ceremonies, Zuma asserted his authority in=20 a region where he previously had to tread carefully.=20 His words for Gwala, sources said, amounted to “mumbo=20
There was much criticism of the organisation of the=20 funeral. With 8 000 ANC branch members in Gwala’s=20 Dambuza township alone, there were widespread=20 complaints about transport shortages, the scheduling of=20 the funeral early Saturday morning when many people=20 were still working and the holding of the ceremony at=20 Maritzburg’s “white” Jan Smuts Stadium — far from from=20 the black townships where Gwala spent his life.
The crowd doubled at the burial site in rural=20 Swayimane, where thousands of locals arrived on foot.
With Gwala out of the picture, sources say ANC=20 restructuring plans to divide the Midlands into four=20 regions will gain momentum, so there will be no clear=20 successor to Gwala’s chair. But, with the Greater=20 Pietermaritzburg region destined to become the most=20 powerful of the four, its chairmanship will be a key=20 position in the face of an IFP challenge.
While KwaZulu/Natal deputy chairman Chief Zibuse Mlaba=20 would have been the natural candidate, sources say the=20 new divisions have mapped him out of the running, as=20 his KwaXimba district now falls under the ANC’s Durban=20 West region.
Other names mentioned as contenders include=20 Pietermaritzburg Mayor Rob Haswell, provincial MP=20 Shakes Cele, an active member of Gwala’s Dambuza=20 branch, and provincial Health MEC Zweli Mkhize, an=20 active member of the significant Willow Fountain=20
Sources said Nzimande, a one-time Midlands deputy=20 chairman, was unlikely to receive the grassroots=20 support needed for the post if he were to seek it, as=20 his role had been largely academic and he was seen to=20 be too busy in Cape Town.
Provincial deputy secretary Sifiso Nkabinde, also a=20 former Gwala protege turned against him, is believed to=20 be in the running for the powerful Richmond region.=20 Haswell is also likely to choose the mayorship over the=20 party post, after running circles around the ANC’s=20 opponents in the city.
With some sources describing the ANC’s Midlands=20 cupboard as “bare” in the wake of Gwala’s death, others=20 point out the ANC will have to get its house in order=20 quickly to fend off an IFP resurgence in the four new=20 regions, which Gwala secured amid harsh territorial=20 battles over the past decade.
The ANC won the Midlands in the 1994 election. Its=20 strategic significance is as clear to the IFP as to=20 Gwala’s other political opponents. Ten days ago, IFP=20 Midlands leader David Ntombela overcame years of defeat=20 at Gwala’s hands to launch four, simultaneous,=20 “spontaneous” roadblocks there to demand Mandela’s=20 arrest for the “Shell House shootings”.