By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress 9th Provincial Conference which is currently under way in Durban has elected Siboniso Duma as the new provincial chairperson with 930 votes and outgoing chairperson Sihle Zikalala obtaining only 665 votes.
The bloc which was dubbed the Talibans was boosted by an endorsement by the all-powerful eThekwini region with 248 delegates which has thrown its weight behind Duma who comes from the region.
Duma who originally comes from Mthwalume on the South Coast is now an eThekwini resident and has a house in KwaNyuswa outside Hillcrest, west of Durban.
At the opening of the conference, delegates mainly from Harry Gwala and eThekwini sang songs in favour of the Duma and Bheki Mtolo combination.
During the proceedings on Friday, the bloc reverberated into “wenzeni uZuma” song in an apparent show of discomfort at how former president Jacob Zuma was treated by the current ANC national leadership.
The bloc also repeatedly rolled its hands in the air which was regarded as calling for a change in the current national and provincial leadership of the ANC.
This was construed as calling for Zikalala to be removed.
The current MEC of Health, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu was elected deputy chairperson with 927 votes and Mtolo was elected provincial secretary with 894 votes, while Sipho Hlomuka was re-elected as deputy secretary with 895 and Ntutuko Mahlaba was elected as the treasurer general.
The conference will resume tomorrow at 9am to elect the members of the provincial executive committee.
It is unclear whether President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the closing address at the conference on Sunday.
ANC Treasurer-General, Paul Mashatile, has congratulated the newly elected leadership of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mashatile says, this newly elected top five leadership must hit the ground running and take the ANC forward, alongside with the ordinary people of KZN.
The ANC, Africa’s oldest political movement, has won every national election held in the continent’s most-industrialized economy since the end of White-minority rule in 1994.
It controls eight of the nation’s nine provinces. With public anger running high over a lack of basic services, rampant unemployment and poverty, the party’s control over parliament and Gauteng will both be at risk in the 2024 vote.
KwaZulu-Natal province, home to sub-Saharan Africa’s largest container hub at the port of Durban, is the second-biggest contributor to South Africa’s country’s gross domestic product.
Those who want to lead the party will look to secure the province’s support in the run-up to the national conference in December. Among them is disgraced former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, who has signaled he plans to challenge Ramaphosa and has received endorsements from some of the province’s local structures.
Chairpersons in four other provinces have backed Ramaphosa for re-election, though there’s no guarantee that their provincial structures will follow suit.
The ANC’s official nomination process will start in August.