ANC branches in KwaZulu-Natal are said to be struggling with preparations for the provincial conference.
Image: Phill Magakoe
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal could go to the local government elections this year with an interim regional and provincial leadership, following their apparent failure to get more than 800 branches ready to elect new leadership.
According to the latest roadmap, which has been revised several times, the party’s 11 regions are expected to elect their leadership by April 7, however, several regional and branch leaders, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no region is likely to meet this deadline. The April 7 deadline was meant to pave the way for the provincial conference which is expected to take place at end of April.
A branch leader in eThekwini said only one out of the 111 branches has managed to elect new leadership and the rest are only expected to hold their conferences this weekend. The leader said with only three weeks left to reach the April 7 deadline, it is unlikely that the 70% of the branches would have met - this is a prerequisite for the regional conference to be held.
“I do not think regional conferences will take place according to the current roadmap."
He said even if branches hold their conferences this weekend, any disputes that emerge would need time to be resolved.
"There could be a resolution that affected branches go back and re-run their conferences and this would push the provincial conference to either May or June."
He said with local government elections later this year, the party could stop the conferences and instead assign task teams to prepare for the elections.
EThekwini regional task team spokesperson Thinta Cibane said branches are pushing hard to meet the deadlines as per the roadmap, however, he said he could not commit that they would meet the April 7 deadline.
“Our branches are going through foundation courses which is now a requirement for all branches to fully understand the movement, before electing new leadership. We are at that stage now and we will soon hold our conferences,” said Cibane.
The Moses Mabhida region, the party’s second biggest after eThekwini, also cast doubt on meeting the April 7 deadline. The regional coordinator Zet Luzipo, said branches are working hard to meet the required deadline, but he believed the ANC should not rush deadlines.
He said this could compromise the renewal process as it would be pointless to elect new leadership while branches are in disarray.
He stated that his region is waiting for feedback from the provincial and national leadership after a presentation was made recently to a team that was led by Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula.
The ANC's national and provincial leadership had not responded to questions at the time of publishing.