African National Congress (ANC) KwaZulu-Natal provincial chairperson Sibanisa Duma says they will not be pressured by other provinces to support Paul Mashatile for deputy president. This comes as the ANC prepares for its 55th National Conference at Nasrec in Johannesburg in December.
The party in KZN says it is still in talks with other provinces to ensure the ANC is a united force after the conference in December.
As the ANC’s 55th National Conference approaches, lobbying and campaigning are intensifying. Some provinces, including Limpopo and Gauteng, nominated Mashatile for the position of Deputy President, a position now held by David Mabuza.
But Duma says lobbying is still going on until December 16, when the conference begins. He says the ANC cannot have all leadership from Gauteng as the party needs to show some diversity.
“Gauteng province, you have no right to dose us, please don’t make fun of us – come to the lobby, let’s discuss strongly. Because why should we support your candidate if you don’t support ours, then that was the culture of the ANC anyway. It is not like ANC Gauteng should get all its leadership from officials. We’re not going to the Gauteng provincial conference, it’s a national conference – so we have to embrace the spirit of ensuring that, let’s be diverse.”
The party in KZN has endorsed NEC member Dr Tsweli Mkhize for the position of ANC president.
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Improve service delivery
Meanwhile, Duma says they are considering an overhaul of the province’s municipalities to improve service delivery. The ANC in KZN saw a decline in support during the last local government elections, which saw it lose some municipalities. There have been calls for Mxolisi Kaunda to be removed as mayor of ETekwini Municipality due to his failure to deliver services to the citizens.
But Duma says this applies not only to the eThekwini municipality, but to all municipalities in the province.
“We need some strategic chance at the level of these municipalities that are not doing well, but we also need to be holistic. You, I think it can’t be easy for you to remove the mayor. Will the process then resume, actually not – so you need to be holistic and thorough. In some cases, with the approach of the administration, our technocrats are no longer serving us properly – so we have to be careful, so timing is always crucial. »
Duma says the regional government is doing everything possible to ensure maximum economic growth. He says the natural disasters that recently hit KZN and the July 2021 unrest are having a big impact on service delivery.