The African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal is split from top to bottom between supporters of current party chairperson S’bu Ndebele and his deputy Zweli Mkhize for the top leadership position.
The province will elect its new party office bearers in the next month. Nominations for the positions started pouring in over the weekend.
Party sources said support for Ndebele and Mkhize as the new chair- person was evenly balanced. However, some felt that support could swing in Ndebele’s favour should the Constitutional Court uphold floor-crossing legislation. The decision would effectively put the ANC in control of the province and Ndebele in the premier’s seat.
Other members, including unionists and communists, believe that Ndebele’s elevation to the premiership should not automatically qualify him to lead the provincial party. They cite the challenges faced by other ANC premiers for the party chair.
The ANC’s national leadership is also believed to be divided between Mkhize and Ndebele supporters.
Ndebele’s post-1999 election proposal that President Thabo Mbeki offer Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi the deputy presidency in exchange for an ANC premier in KwaZulu-Natal did not endear him to Luthuli House.
Buthelezi rejected the offer, and the ANC leadership apparently felt humiliated by the experience.
The reasonable and clear-thinking Mkhize commands support in the upper echelons of the party, although he is not an Mbeki man.
A medical doctor, Mkhize is believed to have stood his ground on the expansion of the nevirapine programme in KwaZulu-Natal. A former Umkhonto weSizwe leader, Mkhize worked closely with Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
Seven of KwaZulu-Natal’s 10 regions are expected to back Mkhize. However, the two biggest regions in the province — eThekweni (formerly Durban) and uMgungundlovu (formerly Pietermaritzburg) — balance the scales.
eThekweni has traditionally backed Ndebele and is expected to continue doing so. He has also made inroads in uMgungundlovu, Mkhize’s support base.
ANC sources in the province said the party is torn by behind-the-scenes manoeuvring in advance of the party conference. They claimed a senior party member was recently ”caught” with 100 recruitment packages.
”He was not an office bearer, so he had no reason to have those kits in his possession,” said one.
Senior party sources said another internal problem was that of the formation of cliques out to seize control of the provincial party, particularly in the absence of a deployment committee.
A recent discussion document released by a faction of the ANC Youth League reflects this.
A party grouping cited the ”Ndebele” clique, comprising MEC for Housing Dumisani Makhaye, safety and security spokesperson Bheki Cele and Durban Metro council speaker Nomsa Dube, as controlling party structures.
Mkhize’s supporters have voiced concern about the absence of the deputy chairperson at recent launches of regional committees in the Midlands. This area is Mkhize’s traditional support base.
ANC spokesperson Mtholephi Mthimkhulu denied senior party members had misused recruitment packages.