Mbalula calls ANC KZN leadership to Johannesburg amid disbandment speculation
The ANC has consistently received over 50% support nationally, as well as in KZN and Gauteng. However, the party saw a significant decline in support during the 29 May elections.
Fikile Mbalula, secretary-general of the African National Congress (ANC), has called the party’s KwaZulu-Natal leadership to Johannesburg.
The meeting is set to take place in Boksburg on Saturday, 30 November, and Mbalula said all the KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive committee (PEC) members must attend. The ANC’s powerful national working committee (NWC) will also be present.
ANC KZN AND GAUTENG PECs TO BE DISBANDED?
In August, reports surfaced that the ANC was planning to disband its KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng PECs due to poor electoral results in the 29 May elections.
Nationally, support for the ANC plummeted from 57% to just 40%, while in KwaZulu-Natal, the party dropped from 54% to just 16.9%. Lastly, in Gauteng, the party also dropped from 51% to 34%.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the Jacob Zuma-led uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party emerged as the biggest winner, earning 45% of the total votes and 37 seats in the provincial legislature. The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has the second-highest number of seats in the legislature, with 15, while the ANC has 14 seats.
Briefing the media on the outcomes of the national working committee’s meeting in October, Mbalula said although the matter has been discussed with the NWC) no decision has been taken yet by the party on the possible disbandment of the KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng PEC.
Meanwhile, ANC Gauteng chairperson Panyaza Lesufi said that the calls to disband the leadership in the province were misplaced because the ANC lost the elections as a unit and not as Gauteng.
Lesufi was also summoned to Luthuli House, the party’s headquarters in Johannesburg over his anti-Government of National Unity remarks.