Mpumalanga’s Mandla Ndlovu invites Jacob Zuma, other defectors to return to ANC

Faced with the toughest local government election three months from now, African National Congress (ANC) chairperson in Mpumalanga, Mandla Ndlovu has rallied members of the oldest liberation movement in Africa to persuade defectors, including uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party president Jacob Zuma, to return “home”.

Ndlovu dished out the reflective message on Women’s Day, while on a campaign trail in one of Mpumalanga’s hotly-contested constituencies, where the MKP and crafty politician Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have made undeniable inroads using former leaders of the ANC.

Reminiscent of Mpumalanga’s erstwhile godfather of engagement politics, the late David “DD” Mabuza, who sought to reconcile with defectors instead of pushing them farther away, Ndlovu embarked on a mission to make overtures to those who left the ANC and have cost the party votes in previous elections.

The numbers explain why Ndlovu may be extending an olive branch instead of raising a political spear.

Also Read: MK Party deploys Tony Yengeni to rescue imploding Mpumalanga structures ahead of November polls

The ANC went into the 2021 local government elections still dominating Mpumalanga with about 59% of the vote, but the cracks were already showing. It failed to secure outright majorities in Steve Tshwete, Govan Mbeki and Lekwa municipalities, while the EFF established itself as a serious provincial competitor.

Three years later, the warning became considerably louder. During the May 2024 provincial election, the ANC’s support in Mpumalanga tumbled to 51.15%, leaving the party precariously close to losing the outright majority it had enjoyed since democracy.

Zuma took a sizeable chunk of the province with him. His then barely six-month-old MKP stormed into Mpumalanga with 16.97% of the provincial vote, becoming the official opposition at its first attempt and relegating the EFF, which received 13.87%, to third place.

‘Those who have left will come back one day’

Unlike some ANC leaders who have chosen a combative approach to vilify those who have found their identity in new political homes, Ndlovu’s message was that of a man very familiar with recent election surveys that predict the ANC’s poll numbers will keep declining.

“Those who have left will come back one day. Our responsibility is to remain patient, continue working amongst our people and keep strengthening the ANC as the organisation of the people,” Ndlovu said vehemently.

“When you see my comrade Ngrayi Ngwenya, tell him that Ndlovu says, ‘Your name is Hamba Uzobuya [Leave, you will come back].'”

Ngrayi Ngwenya was once an ANC strongman in the Nkomazi region until ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula suspended him for publicly supporting former ANC president Zuma during one of his many court cases.

The suspension deeply hurt Ngwenya, who previously laboured as DD Mabuza’s electioneering talisman in Nkomazi.

Feeling betrayed, Ngwenya helped a young activist named Mafia Fane to become the first EFF ward councillor in South Africa, following a midnight constituency meeting held in Ward 11, KaHhoyi Village, in November 2021.

This was a by-election necessitated by the ANC’s removal of its own ward councillor, who defied a council caucus order not to vote for mayor Johan Mkhatshwa for a second term following the November elections of that year.

Mkhatshwa and others were subsequently expelled by the ANC national executive committee in 2022, which led to them later being unveiled as Zuma’s MKP machinery in the same Nkomazi region, leaving little space for the ANC to breathe ahead of the November 4 local government elections.

“When you see Johan Mkhatshwa, let him also know that Ndlovu says, ‘Your name is Hamba Uzobuya.’ Msholozi himself, his name is Hamba Uzobuya. This is your home. We agree with Brenda Fassie, who said, ‘Thina sohlala sinje [We’ll remain resolute].'”

Drive to strengthen, instead of ‘divide-and-conquer’ approach

This year, Ndlovu has been on a drive to strengthen divided ANC constituencies by bringing closer former government leaders who still hold sway in their communities as far as ANC matters are concerned, an opposite strategy to the commonplace divide-and-conquer, instead embracing Mabuza’s “Unity Macabane” approach.

In June, Sunday World reported that Ndlovu enlisted former ANC treasurer and former Mpumalanga premier Dr Mathews Phosa in an ambitious drive to attract billions of rands in investment to the province, with the veteran businessman promising to use his extensive local and international networks to unlock tourism, technology and infrastructure projects.

This came after years where Phosa mostly enjoyed his earned respect in other ANC provinces except his own. Shortly after, Ndlovu’s provincial government went on to appoint seven former Mpumalanga MECs and ANC political heavyweights to the boards of the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) and Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA), drawing sharply contrasting reactions.

It was a move never seen before.

Former deputy minister of tourism Fish Mahlalela, who is among Mpumalanga’s longest-serving political leaders, was handed the chairpersonship of the MTPA board while former health MEC Jabulani Mahlangu was named chairperson of MEGA.

Joining the two boards were also former MECs Mohita Latchminarain, Norah Mahlangu, Busisiwe Paulina Shiba, Sipho William Lubisi and Jacques Modipane, bringing the number of former MECs to seven across the two entities.

Also Read: Ex-ANC leader Msibi deploys tribal populism to unseat ANC rivals

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Tshwarelo eseng Mogakane