By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Newly-elected African National Congress (ANC) chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli says he is humbled and honoured to be given such a profound responsibility to be the leader of the party in Parliament.
Ntuli was selected by the ANC to be the chief whip of the party, filling a position that was over the years occupied by Pemmy Majodina.
“ANC is pleased to announce the appointment of Comrade Ntuli as chief whip in the 7th Democratic Parliament,” said the party in a media statement yesterday (Friday).
The ANC said Ntuli had served in a number of leadership roles in the party, most recently as the party’s head of elections, where he “ably led the party through one of the most challenging election campaigns in the history of the ANC”.
Ntuli said: “First and foremost, let me thank the leadership of the ANC. I am really humbled and honoured to be given such a profound responsibility to be the chief whip of the party during the moment that we are both a movement and as the country,” said Ntuli.
He said he was excited when he looked at the team of the ANC MPs who sat in Parliament. Ntuli said it enforced his confidence that they were going to work well to take the country from its current position into the future. He said that was consistent with the aspirations of the citizens.
Given the numbers, the ANC did not have the majority; hence resorting to venture into a marriage with the DA and IFP, dubbed the government of national unity (GNU). This is historic because it is the first time since 1994 the ANC does not have the majority in the National Assembly.
Ntuli said he believed that the government of national unity was going to last when it came to the business of Parliament.
“I think the GNU will hold because the ANC and other political parties that have agreed to work together have understood the importance of advancing the nation as opposed to our own partisan or political interest.”
He spent a decade working for the ANC as an administrator and organiser at the party’s national headquarters at Luthuli House from 2007 to 2016. He formerly served in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from May 2016 to July 2018.