The eThekwini region, which is the ANC’s biggest in terms of size, was this weekend a battle ground for the soul of the party as it prepares for the December national elective conference.
The stakes were high as the region convened its conference, which attracted senior party leaders from the two factions, including suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule, who descended on Durban to support embattled former eThekwini mayor Zandile
Gumede’s bid to become regional chairperson on the slate of the so-called radical economic transformation (RET) faction.
Sunday World understands that the RET faction rejected the proposal by the party’s top brass to have a unity slate for the eThekwini region.
Key national figures and faces of the RET campaign such as Supra Mahumapelo, Bathabile Dlamini, Magashule and ANC presidential hopeful Zweli Mkhize are said to have been behind the push back.
They were joined by another ANC presidential hopeful, Lindiwe Sisulu, who is believed to also be preparing to challenge President Cyril Ramaphosa for the ANC presidency.
With the odds stacked against them and Ramaphosa gaining the upper hand, the faction wanted to make sure it claims eThekwini, the party’s biggest voting bloc nationally.
According to party sources who spoke to Sunday World behind the scenes of the conference that started yesterday, the national leadership held a last-minute engagement with the RET faction in which they proposed a merger.
“The idea was shot down from the onset because it would have meant that the RET forces were giving the region to CR on a silver platter,” said one senior leader who is privy to the situation.
Sthembiso Sibisi, a branch leader in eThekwini ward 91 – the second-biggest branch – said leaders of branches were summoned a few hours before the start of the conference on Saturday.
“Comrade Bathabile told us that eThekwini must be saved. We agreed that the region was our only hope and key to our campaign leading up to the national conference in December,” said Sibisi.
Another branch leader, Clement Khoza of Umlazi township ward 82, said there were also fears that other branches had sold out after some delegates proposed that Gumede should not stand for elections.
“All these comrades – Zweli, Bathabile and Ace – are respected in branches. So, their presence was very important after our own delegates appeared to be selling out,” said Khoza.
It also emerged that earlier in the week, RET forces had visited former president Jacob Zuma for his counsel and to map out a strategy to win the region.
Gumede was squaring off against municipal speaker Thabani Nyawose, who is a key power broker and an ally of Ramaphosa. The faction that controls the region also has a say in provincial and national elective conferences.
Former minister of health Mkhize is said to have been buoyed by the endorsement he received from eThekwini metro ward 1, which has a long history of wielding political power in ANC politics.
The ward is predominantly a rural area under KwaXimba, which borders the small town of Cato Ridge, located between Pietermaritzburg and Durban.
The eThekwini region’s power is also derived from this ward that has more than 4 000 branch members. The branch was also significant in Zuma’s victory in the watershed 2007 Polokwane elective conference. During the 2017 Nasrec conference, it was the same branch that carried the hopes of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
EThekwini will also have a say whether current ANC chairperson Sihle Zikalala retains his position. Zikalala faces a tough opponent in Nomusa Dube, MEC for finance, who has been endorsed by the ANC Women’s League and RET forces.
A national executive committee member attending the eThekwini regional conference described it as a national conference. “This is a national conference given the interest that has been shown,” he said.
The RET faction is already on the back foot after losing the all-important province of Mpumalanga, where a slate believed to be aligned to Ramaphosa emerged victorious.
It was Mpumalanga which ensured Ramaphosa won the Nasrec conference by a close margin in 2017.
