By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@GettyImages.
African National Congress (ANC) KZN provincial coordinator Mike Mabuyakhulu briefed media on Wednesday, on the outcomes of the interim provincial task team (PTT) meeting.
The PTT was established after the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) decided earlier this year to restructure the provincial executive committee, following the party’s poor showing in the 2024 general elections.
Mabuyakhulu acknowledged that the ANC had lost ground, prompting a strategic rethink.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the party suffered a historic setback when MK Party emerged as the largest party with 45.4 % of the vote, which translated into 37 seats, only four seats short of getting the outright majority in the provincial legislature with 80 seats, and placing the ANC at third place at 17%.
As a result, the province is now governed under a Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) arranged by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in alliance with the ANC, the Democratic Alliance (DA), and the NFP.
Mabuyakhulu noted that the party has already held a local government alliance summit on the 20th to the 21st June 2025, and more recently has finalised its election strategy.
“There is nobody who goes to war and divulges elements of their battle plan. You only reveal them in action in the battle itself.”
Mabuyakhulu said preparations for the National General Council (NGC) were underway. The NGC will convene from 8 to 12 December 2025 at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg.
He confirmed that all ANC regions will hold regional general councils (RGCs) this weekend.
“The PTT will be presenting the branch task team guidelines to all of these RGCs.
“We will also present the road map towards the [branch general meetings] and the [branch biennial general meetings] as well as the regional and provincial conferences, “he said.
Meanwhile the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Treasury confirmed on Wednesday that it has placed the Department of Education under administration due to budget overspending and persistent financial mismanagement.
Treasury invoked Section 18 of the PFMA to withhold discretionary funding, excluding employee compensation, school transfers, and conditional grants like the National School Nutrition Programme.
In response, Mabuyakhulu said, the ANC is not opposed to Treasury probing ANC-led departments, in this regard, the Department of Education and Transport.
He took aim at MEC of Finance Francios Rodgers’ suggestion that he does not answer to any political party, despite serving in a coalition government.
“You are telling your own party that you already placed the Department of Education under administration, and you answer to nobody. Not to the ANC. Not to the IFP. Not to the NFP. But you are in government because of those very parties that made you MEC,” Mabuyakhulu said.
He added. “All MECs have individual and collective responsibilities. They report to the Executive Council and the Premier. In a coalition arrangement like the Government of Provincial Unity (GPU), you account to each other.”
Mabuyakhulu criticised Rodgers for acting as though the DA held a majority mandate. “You can’t have 11% and still behave as if you had 50% plus one,” he said.
“What we are seeing is clear political targeting of ANC-run departments. Because he has found power in the law, Rodgers now uses that power not for oversight, but to pursue partisan objectives.”
He added that Treasury oversight should be fair and impartial, not influenced by political agendas. “We are not averse to Treasury probing any department where there are legitimate concerns, but you cannot probe when you already have a verdict. That is a manipulation of power, “Mabuyakhulu said.
Mabuyakhulu also addressed the ongoing dispute between uMkhanyakude District Municipality and KZN Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Thulasizwe Buthelezi.
The conflict stems from the decision to place the municipality under administration in terms of Section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution.
He claimed that the appointment of uMkhanyakude administrator, Bamba Ndwandwe, had disrupted “the smooth running” of the municipality.
In the Nongoma Local Municipality, the coalition between the ANC and the National Freedom Party (NFP) collapsed after the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) aligned with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
The IFP’s Mbekezeli Zondo was elected mayor, Sinethemba Mbongwa speaker, and the EFF’s Mthokozisi Luvuno deputy mayor.