By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Jackie Clausen.
Former KwaZulu-Natal Premier Willies Mchunu has resigned from the African National Congress (ANC), saying he no longer add value to the party due to its current trajectory.
Mchunu, the former KwaZulu-Natal SACP chairperson, said the ANC was no longer the political organisation he had joined as a young boy and served in its structures.
“After analysing the current political trajectory of the ANC, I believe I’m no longer adding value in the life of the party,” Mchunu told ANC eThekwini metro Ward 33 branch secretary.
Mchunu also launched into a tirade, declaring that he thinks the ANC has abandoned the National Democratic Revolution.
In a leaked letter three months ago, Mchunu made his opposition to the inclusion of the DA in the government of national unity (GNU) known privately to his comrades in KwaZulu-Natal.
He argued that the DA would swallow the ANC whole.
ANC provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo, in his reply to Mchunu, expressed “great pain” but acknowledged the ANC is a voluntary organisation and Mchunu’s decision to quit was respected.
Mtolo challenged Mchunu’s views of the GNU, reminding him that at the onset of democracy, the ANC worked with architects of apartheid such as the National Party and the IFP in KwaZulu-Natal, a hostile party to the ANC at the time.
“If my memory serves me well, subject to correction, the GNU between 1994 and 1999 had parties such as the National Party, which from 1948 at least was responsible for the most murders and torture of many of our comrades. During this period tensions and relations between the ANC and IFP were at their very lowest. Incidents were happening across the province where comrades were losing their lives. At no point did the comrades who participated in the IFP-led GPU withdraw from it or leave the ANC. They continued to serve,” Mtolo said.
The last time Mchunu appeared on ANC platforms was in September, during a provincial memorial held in honour of the late former Minister Pravin Gordhan.
Mchunu, was an ANC operative during the struggle against apartheid, held office as premier from 24 May 2016 to 27 May 2019.