The ANC has acknowledged that its KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) interim structure has failed to deliver the positive organisational rebuilding outcomes expected of it.
This admission comes from the party’s Secretary-General, Fikile Mbalula, who expressed disappointment, saying the structure’s shortcomings were largely driven by persistent factional battles rather than organisational renewal.
He was speaking during a media briefing during the third day of the party’s National General Council on Wednesday at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre, in Boksburg.
Big changes in structure
“KZN is a big disappointment in terms of our intervention. And I can assure you that there are going to be changes in KZN. That structure is too big. And we are going to make it leaner, and we are going to bring in more people,” Mbalula said.
He criticised the current 67-member interim leadership, headed by Jeff Radebe and Mike Mabuyakhulu. HE accused them of being preoccupied with internal contests for leadership positions. According to him, this behaviour is in direct contradiction to the mandate they were given.
“KZN, we disbanded the structure because we were facing an existential crisis there, a tsunami. What do people do who we have given a task? They are fighting over who must lead. It is not the task we gave them,” he said.
Mbalula’s comments coincide with his ANC’s mid-term report. It paints a sobering picture of the state of the organisation in KwaZulu-Natal. The report identifies several deep-rooted weaknesses. And these include declining cadre discipline and the collapse of political education programmes.
These weaknesses, Mbalula explained, have severely undermined the party’s ability to mobilise its core support base and defend the National Democratic Revolution.
Provincial task team not delivering
In response to these challenges, the ANC National Executive Committee intervened in February 2025. It reconfigured the provincial leadership and established the Provincial Task Team.
The Renewal Charter, he said, places discipline and integrity at the heart of the party’s renewal efforts. It commits leaders to confronting all their weaknesses.
The ANC suffered one of its worst electoral defeats in KwaZulu-Natal in the 2024 provincial elections. It plunged to just 16.99% of the vote, a dramatic collapse from the more than 55% it held five years earlier.
The result relegated the party to third place in a province it once dominated. Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party surged to 45.35%, and the IFP secured 18.07%. The ANC’s sharp decline translated into a major loss of influence in the provincial legislature. It now holds only 14 seats, far behind MK’s commanding 37.
