In an interview with the Mail & Guardian, Thabani Nyawose said he was “very uncomfortable [with] the manner in which people in the media always refer to me as a Ramaphosa ally”. (Photo by Gallo Images/Darren Stewart)
eThekwini speaker Thabani Nyawose was one of the key leaders of the KwaZulu-Natal leg of the campaign to elect Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC president in 2017.
Nyawose, at the time an ordinary branch chairperson, led the initial resistance to the outcome of the “stolen” November 2015 KwaZulu-Natal provincial conference, at which Sihle Zikalala defeated sitting chairperson Senzo Mchunu, with the result being overturned by the high court in late 2017.
The outcome saw the provincial executive committee being disbanded and split the eThekwini — and KwaZulu-Natal — vote, which had been lined up behind Ramaphosa’s opponent, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Despite this, Nyawose — one of the contenders to become chairperson of eThekwini, the ANC’s largest region, next month — takes exception to being described as a “Ramaphosa ally” in the media.
Nyawose has been nominated by a number of eThekwini’s 111 ANC branches to stand as chair on a de facto Ramaphosa ticket, taking on former chairperson Zandile Gumede, the radical economic transformation (RET) candidate.
Nyawose, however, sees himself as an ANC leader in his own right and not an extension of the president.
He also believes that the description further fuels the factionalism that is rife in the party.
Very uncomfortable
In an interview with the Mail & Guardian, Nyawose said he was “very uncomfortable [with] the manner in which people in the media always refer to me as a Ramaphosa ally”.
“I’ve never spoken to Ramaphosa. He has never called me. I have never called him. I know Ramaphosa as the leader of the ANC and the person that I supported in 2017,” Nyawose said.
“I don’t want to be described or prescribed with the character of another person. I want to be described as Thabani Nyawose, speaker of the eThekwini municipality, and a candidate for the chair of the ANC.”
“I came alone into this movement. When I was shot, when I had to run for my life, I was alone,” he said. “The bullet that is in my body is in me, not in Ramaphosa.”
Nyawose was involved in the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the late 1980s and in the ANC, coming under attack several times while organising for the party in the SJ Smith Hostel and other parts of south Durban.
After 1994, Nyawose, 46, first served as an ANC councillor and then became a senior manager in the city’s human settlements department.
He was elected as speaker in December.
Fierce contest
Nyawose faces a fierce contest for the chair against Gumede, who was elected in 2015 but who did not complete her term because the region was dissolved.
The region, one of the most influential in the party, played a key role in securing victory for former president Jacob Zuma in 2009 and 2012.
Nyawose said the pre-conference branch general meeting process was “very close” to completion, with about 60 branches having met quorum thus far.
However, 16 branches had been disqualified because the ID numbers of members had been input manually, rather than the barcodes being scanned, in what appeared to be an attempt to “beat” the process.
Nyawose is concerned about the level of violence in the region ahead of the conference.
Since January, four ANC branch level leaders or councillors have been murdered. All of them had been playing a role in his campaign for chairperson.
“There is a huge impact within the ANC. It has caused fear: fear to attend ANC meetings; fear to participate in ANC programmes and activities,” Nyawose said.
ANC members were now reluctant to stand as branch office bearers because this made them a target.
The killings also damaged the image of the ANC.
“In the eyes of the public we are seen as a violent organisation; an organisation that has a high level of intolerance,” he said.
Campaigners murdered
Last week ward 82 branch secretary Thulani Shusha and branch executive committee member Qiniso Nkomo were shot dead on their way home from an ANC meeting.
Both had both been “very strong” campaigners for Nyawose.
Their branch general meeting process had been heavily contested — there have been eight attempts to hold it so far. At one meeting — which was later reversed and reconvened — Shusha was kidnapped and forced to sign off on the attendance register.
Shusha and Nkomo were both delegates to the coming regional and provincial conferences, as was Bheki Mvubu, the Clermont zonal secretary who was murdered in February.
“It’s very scary when people are being shot and killed like they are doing,” Nyawose said.
Several other ANC members — and councillors — had survived assassination attempts in recent months.
“It has become difficult for councillors to be effective and to [serve] their community. It is difficult because you are now scared to attend any meeting, even during the day, let alone at night,” he said.
“We are scared to be in the office in the afternoon, because we know that on our way back home, there might be people waiting for you inside your yard,” Nyawose said.
As a result the city had been providing security for councillors from the ANC, the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Democratic Alliance.
“We are slowly becoming enemies of our people. We do not know what the reasons are now, but maybe, through investigation, we will find out why there is so much anger from communities,’’ Nyawose said.
No mayoral chain
Nyawose said that if elected — and he is “confident” that he will be — he will remain as speaker and will not contest sitting mayor Mxolisi Kaunda.
Kaunda, who is associated with the RET faction, was moved to the city from the provincial transport ministry in 2018 when Gumede was recalled as mayor and the regional leadership was dissolved.
“Being the chair of the ANC region does not automatically mean that you are mayor of the municipality,” Nyawose said. “I don’t think that personally I will accept [being mayor].”
“I could become mayor after being elected chairperson, but [accepting] the [mayoral] chain would cause instability. That would affect the relationship that exists; the commitment from the city leadership,” Nyawose said.
“If I win the conference, my focus will be to rebuild ANC structures in all 111 wards; on contributing to making the ANC an organisation of choice,” he said.
“I want to build a peaceful organisation where people don’t fight — where when you differ in a meeting, you don’t fear for life. I want to see peace in the ANC,” Nyawose added.
If elected chair, Nyawose would convene meetings with disaffected ANC members who no longer participated in the party and try to bring them back by listening to their concerns and trying to address them.
The regional leadership would also reach out to civil society and rebuild relationships with organisations and professionals in society who had become disengaged from the ANC.
At the same time, branches would have to help rebuild the profile of the party at ward and branch level.
“We’re trying now to take the ANC back to the people: where the ANC is accessible; where the ANC is seen every day,” Nyawose said.
“My responsibilities are clear. I’m happy where I’m deployed as a speaker. I think I’m comfortable. I can play a very effective role for the next five years. I’m fine,” he said.
Conference delays
Nyawose said that the delays in the conference sitting meant there would not be sufficient time to prepare eThekwini delegates to the upcoming provincial and national conferences to the level at which he would have liked.
However, once elected, “we want to play a very unique role” at the conferences by taking on a unifying role.
“We are big in terms of size of branches; we are big in terms of the number of members. We also want to be big in terms of political understanding and articulation,” Nyawose said.
“That is the part we want to play in the conferences. We also want to lead … in terms of driving the renewal and the unity of the ANC,” he said.
Nyawose favours the region meeting openly with “all the groups that exist in the province” together with those who had “already expressed a preference” for chairperson.
The ANC Women’s League in the province has already named current treasurer Nomusa Dube-Ncube as its preferred candidate for KwaZulu-Natal chairperson.
“We have learned lessons the hard way. We are mature enough now. We cannot continue to do things in the way we have done them before,” Nyawose said.
Factionalism
The historic approach of “investing a lot of energy in factionalism” would “destroy the ANC and whoever is in its leadership”, he added.
Instead, the region would take the approach of assessing the performance of each contender in government and the party and through the prism of the ANC’s electoral performance since 2017.
The discussion should also factor in the ANC’s performance in the 2019 and 2021 elections.
“To look at a group perspective or faction, not discussing these points, is missing the point: you are already setting us up for failure,” he said.
“We are slowly losing power. Therefore, we need people who will bring change now — people who are brave; who are not scared to be unpopular.”
Nyawose advocates the groupings coming together in an open process and naming a single candidate for chairperson, rather than backing two or three contenders.
“We need to be patient and agree on one name in the province to be chair, not two or three. That way the chair we choose will be a model … a true example of [the] renewal, the upliftment and the unity of the ANC,’’ he said. “That’s what I intend to do.”
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