ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa stunned KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive committee (PEC) members when he angrily rejected and recalled a report tabled by provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo on why ANC was clobbered in the May 29 elections.
Sunday World has been reliably informed that Ramaphosa could not believe his ears when Mtolo blamed the electoral losses of the May 29 elections in the province on the popularity of MK Party leader Jacob Zuma.
The dramatic events took place at the working dinner Ramaphosa held with the ANC KwaZulu-Natal PEC three weeks ago at the Coastlands Hotel in Durban.
Ramaphosa was so infuriated by Mtolo’s report that he recalled it on the spot and ordered all PEC members to return copies pronto.
According to our informants who were in the heated meeting, Ramaphosa instructed all that the contents of that report must never be repeated in any platform ever again, internally or externally outside the ANC.
A gag order was imposed on PEC members to “never speak about the report” to anyone who was not in that room that day.
The report apparently said Zuma’s popularity in the province contributed to ANC’s misfortunes at the polls, where they scored 17%, their worst result among all nine provinces since 1994.
The report also went further, our moles whispered, to say Zuma’s popularity as a proud Zulu man also contributed to subjects of the AmaZulu King to gravitate towards MK Party.
This, Mtolo told the gathering, also extended to the Nazareth Baptist Church (affectionately known as the Shembe church), which is also anchored on a strong leaning to the Zulu culture, traditions, and customs.
“Dumbfounded, CR (Ramaphosa) was unequivocal ukuthi leyariphothi iyolahlwa (that the report be thrown away) and that it must never make it to the public domain because it was an embarrassment,” said an insider who was at the meeting.
“He asked if ‘is this an MKP report or ANC report, why are you promoting MKP’, adding that ‘I will be ashamed as the president of the ANC if such a shameful report were to ever leak’. He said it must be banned and burned to never see the light of day ever again.
“What irked the president is because the report was talking about how powerful Zuma is in the province, which led to the ANC losing elections, the issue of the Shembe Church and the Zulu Kingdom.
“It was basically a glowing praise about how powerful Zuma is in that province.”
Two other ANC leaders who attended the meeting confirmed this.
“The report was recalled, and you will not find any copy of it anywhere. Some of us are not surprised by Dlangamandla’s (Mtolo) behaviour this week,” said the deepthroat who attended the meeting.
Our sources said the happenings of that November 6 dinner that ended in bad taste were among things that could have triggered Mtolo’s outburst on Thursday evening.
Mtolo, while addressing an organisational renewal lecture at the General Gizenga region, lashed out at the ANC national executive committee, saying it should also shoulder the blame for electoral decline at national level.
A high-ranking ANC leader said Mtolo was “losing it” because the events of November 6 and the tone of the letter summoning the KZN PEC to appear before the national working committee meeting had convinced him that their fate had been decided long ago.
The leaders who were there said the events that followed Ramaphosa’s scathing remarks tearing apart the report was a clampdown never seen at such a meeting before.
“All PEC members were told to return the copies and then the number of copies were compared to the number of people who signed the attendance register before anyone could leave the room to ensure there is no room for a leak,” said a PEC member.
“The message was one that if such a report leaks, we are doomed ngoba ukuputshuka kwayo kuyofana nokuthi umkhonto ugwaze ekhaya (the report leaking would be tantamount to ANC shooting itself in the foot).”
PEC members said they were also taken by surprise for they had not had sight of the report before it was presented in the presence of Ramaphosa.
“The report was shameful quite frankly; an embarrassment and we did not expect such as PEC members.
“The president was correct with his characterisation of it as not being worth the paper it was written on.
“Thank God it does not exist anymore.”
Mtolo said his fellow ANC leaders who gave Sunday World the information must be referred to a mental hospital in Pietermaritzburg.
“Please refer your sources to Fort Napier Hospital. It will help them a lot. Me and you cannot help them,” said Mtolo.
ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the ANC did not discuss its internal and classified affairs with the media.
“We can confirm that the ANC president (Ramaphosa) met with the KZN PEC. We do not discuss confidential organisational matters in the media,” said Bhengu-Motsiri.
