African National Congress (ANC) succession battles are unlikely to be a feature of President Thabo Mbeki’s imbizo (meeting) in the Ladysmith area of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) this weekend, according to local party bosses and political analysts.
Mbeki’s visit will be the first presidential imbizo in the province since allegations were made earlier this year that certain ANC members in KwaZulu-Natal were trying to make the province a no-go area for Mbeki.
Political analyst Protas Madladla on Thursday described Mbeki’s decision to hold a presidential imbizo in Ladysmith as ”a strategic move to enter the move through the back door”.
Madladla said he did not expect Mbeki to get the same reception he received in Pietermaritzburg late last year when a group of people walked out while he was addressing the funeral of struggle hero Moses Mabhida.
He did not, however, rule it out.
”Look what happened in Utrecht. Nobody expected it,” he said, referring to an incident in 2005 when Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was booed off stage by supporters of Jacob Zuma at a Women’s Day event.
Mbeki’s visit to the province has been hailed by local media as taking place amid heightened tensions within the party as the local branches prepare to decide whom they want to nominate for party president at the upcoming Polokwane conference later this year.
However, the ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal secretary general Senzo Mchunu on Thursday poured cold water on any talk of tension over Mbeki’s visit.
”There is absolutely no tension. That is totally the wrong impression. It is not ANC business that he is [coming] here on. It is government business.”
Speculation has been rife over tensions between Mbeki and the local ANC ever since a media report in April that there was an attempt to make parts of the province ”no-go” areas for Mbeki.
The Sunday Times had reported that some ANC leaders in KwaZulu-Natal were attempting to make parts of the province ”no-go” areas for Mbeki.
Ladysmith Gazette editor Rod Skinner said: ”I don’t think it [the succession battle] is really an issue here.”
Skinner said that the town of Ladysmith itself was an ANC stronghold, but ”step out there into the rural areas and it is Inkatha Freedom Party dominated.”
He said that he personally was not expecting any ”fireworks” and pointed out that both Zuma and Mbeki had campaigned in the area during the 2006 local government elections. — Sapa