ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula. Photo: Luba Lesolle/Gallo Images
ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula said he would not be shocked if the party were to persuade former Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi to join it because he was a “good citizen” and “good politician”.
Last week the Mail & Guardian reported that behind the scenes discussions were taking place in the ANC in the Free State that appeared aimed at bringing Ndlozi — who resigned last week as an EFF legislator — into the party.
At a media briefing on Monday, during which the ANC announced that it would reconfigure its Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal leadership after the provinces’ dismal performance in last year’s general elections, Mbalula said it was only Ndlozi who could speak on the potential move. He added that he would not be surprised if the ANC was talking to Ndlozi.
“He is a good member of society and in the realm of politics, he is a good politician, so why not talk to him? At the end of the day, it is him that can take the decision about his future,” Mbalula said.
Ndlozi has been seen on several occasions recently with a senior ANC leader in Clarens, Free State, sparking speculation about the party leveraging long-standing family ties with one of its leaders. The M&G is aware of the leader’s identity.
ANC leaders believe that figures such as Ndlozi could inject the necessary energy and expertise to drive renewal and rebuild confidence in the party, which lost national support last year, forcing it to form a coalition government with the Democratic Alliance and eight other parties.
Mbalula said that if the EFF could eject Ndlozi as it did, it meant that party leader Julius Malema was powerful and overconfident. Ndlozi was not just a “small boy” in politics who could be removed from structures by the EFF in the manner that he was, he added.
“If you are powerful, you are powerful and you would think that someone like Ndlozi can just be kicked out. So there is nothing wrong for ANC members and everyone can talk to Mbuyiseni,” Mbalula said.
The ANC secretary general is believed to be one of those in favour of disbanding the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive committees, a move his critics say is part of a strategy to consolidate his support ahead of the party’s 2027 elective conference. The current leadership of both provinces is seen as being hostile to Mbalula.
The ANC national executive committee (NEC) took a decision at the weekend to reconfigure both provinces, rather than dissolving them over last year’s election debacle.
“I know the buzzword is dissolution [that] you like. It’s reinforcement others like, but overall it’s a combination of both and then choosing the path of uniting our organisation in terms of intervention,” Mbalula said on Monday.
He said the discussions in the NEC meeting were robust because members did not have the same view on the matter as party officials and the national working committee. People had linked the discussions about the reinforcement of the provinces to the ANC’s 2027 succession and this was polarising, Mbalula added.
“It is not a lie, it is true, people were meeting, mobilising in Cape Town, in dinner parties and everywhere because they say if you support this position that means you are in the camp of so and so which is leaders like myself and [deputy president] Paul Mashatile,” he said.
“I have never declared any interest in the interest of the presidency of the ANC, I’m still secretary general and people already say I must jump. I know about that, it is the truth, people have come to me but I’m not power drunk to think in this position I can use it to advance my interest, I can not do that.”
He said it was “unfortunate” that an important discussion about the provinces had been “hijacked” because of factionalism and about who will replace party president Cyril Ramaphosa when his term comes to an end.
Mbalula added that he also did not have an opinion that the provinces must be dissolved, saying that opinion was generated out of the process.
“I understand why they say so because I’m the secretary general of the ANC and many things that are not nice will be associated with me. I lost friends along the way. People who were my good friends don’t like me anymore because I’ve things that they do not like but it comes with the responsibility,” he said.
Mbalula is expected to write to ANC branches and regions on the decision of the NEC to reconfigure the two provinces.
The party will communicate the fate of the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive committees to them next Monday.