ANC KZN chairperson Sihle Zikalala.
ANC KwaZulu-Natal chairperson, Sihle Zikalala, has been elected unopposed by the party’s provincial conference sitting in Durban.
Zikalala was the only candidate nominated for the post by delegates of the conference, which is being held at the Durban University of Technology sports complex.
The nomination process was delayed by a lengthy process of verification of the 1 500 delegates from the province’s 11 regions and its leagues, which took place on Friday afternoon ahead of the acceptance of the conference credentials.
Proceedings also got off to a late start on Thursday because of an unsuccessful high court application by dissatisfied members from the Moses Mabhida and Lower South Coast regions.
Zikalala was backed for the chairperson’s post by both the “status quo” lobby, which wants to re-elect the entire leadership voted in at the unlawful November 2015 conference and the “unity” slate, which aims to replace them with a leadership drawn from both ANC factions in the province.
The high court last September set aside the result of the November 2015 provincial conference, while the elective meeting held in Empangeni last month was also halted by the high court following an application by members from four regions.
Nomusa Dube-Ncube, the sitting ANC treasurer, was also re-elected unopposed with the backing of both factions as she was the only person nominated for the post.
The post of deputy chairperson will be contested by incumbent Willies Mchunu and the convener of the provincial task team appointed to run the conference, Mike Mabuyakhulu.
The regional secretary’s position will be contested by Mdumiseni Ntuli, for the unity slate, and Super Zuma, who was elected secretary in 2015.
Both were part of the same slate at that conference, but Ntuli has now become the face of the “unity” drive in KwaZulu-Natal, with the party’s leagues, previously backers of the status quo, backing him as well.
The posts of deputy secretary will be a three-way split between the incumbent Mluleki Ndobe, Ukahlamba regional secretary Sipho Hlomuka and MPL Bongi Sithole-Moloi.
Voting was set to take place overnight, with the result being announced on Saturday morning.