ANC's KwaZulu-Natal branches gear up for conference despite setbacks

ANC branches in KwaZulu-Natal are finalising their elections in preparation for the provincial conference.

This was revealed by the party spokesperson Fanle Sibisi in an interview on Tuesday. According to the new deadline, which was announced by the party’s Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula at the National General Council last month, the provincial task team’s term of office was extended to  February after failing to hold a provincial elective conference at the end of November.

Mbalula has slammed the provincial structure, describing it as a significant disappointment. He also announced that there would be changes in the structure, which will see the removal of others and new faces.

Despite Mbalula’s criticism, Sibisi said the party in the province is moving ahead with its programmes of reviving the organisation.

He said the party is focused on rebuilding and strengthening its structures in line with its constitution.

“That work is continuous. Our priority is ensuring that branches are properly constituted and have held meetings as required. Once that process is completed and compliant, the organisation will be in a position to proceed with conferences in an orderly and credible manner,” said Sibisi.

Although Sibisi painted a progressive picture, a regional leader who spoke on condition of anonymity disputed him, saying what he said is just a public relations exercise.

The leader said the reality is that the province had only 50 branches out of 930, that had new leadership in the National General Council.

She said the problem, which prevents branches from meeting and electing new leadership, is the membership registration portal, which is still being held at Luthuli House, awaiting approval.

“As far as I know, there are only 50 branches that have met and elected new leadership, so I do not know of any region that is currently sitting branches because the registration portal is still at the national office. In my region, we have only two branches out of more than 60 that have elected new leadership,” said the leader.

Since its establishment in February last year, the 67-member task team under the stewardship of the party veteran Jeff Rabade has reportedly struggled with branch audit because of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party’s (MKP) dual membership strategy.

Regions reported difficulties in verifying membership because there were many branch members who had left the party and joined the MKP, yet still showed up in meetings because they still held ANC membership.

This was attributed to the province’s failure to meet the previous deadline of holding the provincial conference in November.

willem.phungula@inl.co.za