ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula is facing growing discontent from within the party after allegedly ignoring a formal legal threat from 14 incensed branch leaders who accused the party’s regional task team in Mpumalanga of rigging the run-up to the Ehlanzeni regional elective conference.
The complainants, representing various branches across the Bushbuckridge, Mbombela, and Nkomazi sub-regions, are breathing fire after their July 18 letter of demand, sent through Ntsie Attorneys, was not answered.
The letter accused the regional task team of unilaterally disqualifying several branches, only to reinstate them later without convening any fresh branch general meetings or following ANC constitutional processes.
In the letter, addressed to Mbalula’s office, provincial secretary Muzi Chirwa, and regional coordinator Folus Sibuyi, accused the task team of “unconstitutional and illegal conduct” and gave the party until July 23 at noon to respond. “Our clients were disqualified on dubious grounds,” the letter reads. “Then, without any BBGMs being reconvened, the same branches were suddenly declared qualified. This reeks of manipulation and must be retracted immediately.”
It further warned, “Failure and refusal on your part in complying with the ANC’s constitution and guidelines will invite a situation that would leave our clients with no other option but to approach the High Court for an order that would urgently interdict the purported upcoming ANC regional conference.”
The Ehlanzeni regional elective conference is widely seen as a key battleground in Mpumalanga, with sitting regional chairperson and community safety MEC Jackie Macie contesting for re-election. He is being challenged by William Nkatha, speaker of the Mbombela Local Municipality.
No word from above
Despite the letter of demand, there was silence from Luthuli House.
However, last week, in a surprise move, Chirwa announced that the conference, which had been set to take place over the weekend of July 26, was being postponed.
He blamed the delay on complications linked to the delegate verification system. No new date has been announced, but ANC sources confirm the conference must take place before August 15.ANC insiders who spoke to Sunday World are not buying the explanation. They insist that the so-called verification problems are merely a smokescreen for deeper issues of manipulation and factional power plays.
One senior member said the real reason for the postponement was the “disorder and confusion deliberately created to rig the composition of delegates.”
“We know who wants to retain power and to whose benefit. This has everything to do with the 2027 conference. Mpumalanga still wields the numbers, and Ehlanzeni is the largest region in the province. It was the one that delivered President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2017,” he said.
The leader said the task team’s initial decision to disqualify their branches was meant to shut them out of the voting process. When that failed to stand uncontested, the same members turned around and reinstated the branches without following due process, likely under pressure from internal forces seeking to avoid a legal showdown.
We are delegated
According to the letter of demand, the complainants derive their authority as members in good standing from their respective branches.
They say the task team was appointed in April with the mandate to rebuild branches and prepare for a credible regional conference. Instead, they claim, the team manipulated BBGM and AGM processes, selectively disqualifying branches and then reversing those decisions without rerunning the meetings.
The disqualifications were initially communicated in late May and again in June, citing failure to meet quorum and incidents of violent disruption. But by July 2, a sudden audit report reversed the decision, qualifying the very same branches without a single rerun, sparking outrage from those affected.Mbalula’s office has yet to comment. Written questions sent to Mbalula and Chirwa were not answered by the time of publication.
