By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress (ANC) Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula has acknowledged it will be challenging for the party to regain power in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
The party is now the third biggest party in the province after the Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
The ANC’s National Working Committee (NWC) members, led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, visited the province on Sunday and Monday.
Mbalula said the NWC engaged with leaders across KZN, holding discussions with provincial office officials, regional leaders, and branch representatives.
“There will be no hesitation on the part of the national working committee to intervene where there’s depletion in terms of membership, people departing, and also in terms of people having left the organisation to other parties.
“We need to deal with it, and where necessary, there will be steps that will be taken to rescue the situation”.
Mbalula reiterated that the party will only deploy people who are truly committed to the party.
“We need real ANC people who love the organisation to lead the organisation. This election has already paved the way for us to be decisive so that we do not sit with sleepers of other political parties in our ranks.”
Mbalula has dismissed speculation that the party’s provincial executive committee in KZN would be disbanded due to its poor election performance.
In KwaZulu-Natal the ANC dropped from 54.2% to 17%. More than 2 million votes were lost.
Despite calls for accountability and for the KZN PEC to face consequences for the poor performance and the large number of ANC members who joined the MKP, Mbalula admitted that regaining control of KwaZulu-Natal might be challenging, likening it to the ANC’s struggle to reclaim the Western Cape from the Democratic Alliance (DA).
He said that this is “not the time for finger-pointing and squabbles” but rather a time to focus on strengthening the party in the province.
Mbalula attributed much of the ANC’s loss of its majority in KwaZulu-Natal to MK Party, rather than internal issues within the ANC’s branches. He noted that the constituencies that supported the MK Party were traditionally ANC supporters.
“We know that’s what went wrong in KwaZulu-Natal in particular. In the country [nationally], the ANC will bounce back very strong. We are resolving people’s issues and that’s important.
“As the economy grows and we do what we said we would do in [our] manifesto, that will restore the confidence of the people in the ANC. As the renewal programme of the ANC heightens, the people will gain confidence in the ANC,” he said.
Mbalula said that the NWC will develop a rolling programme of action to regain ground in KwaZulu-Natal. He explained that the NWC, which manages the ANC’s day-to-day operations and reports to the national executive committee, will reflect on feedback from ANC structures in all 11 regions of the province and determine the next steps to reinforce the PEC and build a stronger ANC.