Former Police minister Bheki Cele is touted to lead the eThekwini ANC to local government elections.
Image: Itumeleng English / Independent Newspapers
Current speculation suggests that former Police Minister and current National Executive Committee member, Bheki Cele, is among the candidates being considered by the ANC for the position of eThekwini regional convener.
On Tuesday or Wednesday, the ANC’s Secretary-General, Fikile Mbalula, is expected to unveil the eThekwini regional leadership together with the provincial additional members to serve on the newly reconfigured provincial structure under Mike Mabuyakhulu as the convener.
According to a source who is a member of the ANC in eThekwini, Cele’s name pops up alongside that of Thabani Nyawose, current eThekwini Speaker and a member of the outgoing regional task team.
He is currently an additional member with no active role in the outgoing structure. Other names being bandied about are former eThekwini regional secretary Bheki Ntuli and former eThekwini municipality’s Human Settlement committee head Nigel Gumede.
Former provincial youth league secretary Thanduxolo Sabelo is said to be leading those being considered for the coordinator’s position.
“It's still early to tell, but Sabelo is the big favourite to take the coordinator's position. In the convener’s position, it's Cele, Gumede, Nyawose, and Ntuli, that's what I heard for now,” said the source.
Cele, who was part of the recently disbanded provincial task team, may or may not retain his seat on the NEC. It is also uncertain whether the party's policy prohibiting members from serving on both higher and lower structures simultaneously may or may not be enforced in this case.
This policy mainly refers to members in a contest but is silent on serving on interim structures, as in the case of eThekwini. The interim structure’s term will expire after the elections, and branches will have to elect new leadership.
Nyawose said he was unaware that his name was being discussed, while Cele did not respond to requests to comment on the speculations. Attempts to get the other three people mentioned were unsuccessful.
If appointed, Cele would be making a comeback to the eThekwini leadership role, having previously served as the region's chairperson in the early 2000s before his election to the national leadership as a National Executive Committee (NEC) member.
Before being elected to the provincial youth leadership, Sabelo also served in eThekwini. He is currently a councillor in the city.
In the 2022 regional conference, he was on Nyawose’s slate for the deputy secretary position, and the slate lost to Zandile Gumede’s pro-Zuma slate at that time. Nyawose was Cyril Ramaphosa’s backer in the province.
If appointed as a new convener, Nyawose will test the elusive leadership role ahead of the conference. His name had been mentioned among those who would have contested the chairperson’s position in the postponed regional conference.
He was expected to fight Nkosenhle Madlala, who was being supported by Zandile Gumede's group. Gumede's political career appears to be in tatters as she is still facing bruising criminal charges emanating from the R320 million Durban solid waste tender scandal while she was still the mayor of eThekwini.
The expected eThekwini political changes come while the ANC is on the back foot as it is expected to receive stiff competition from the former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party in the coming local government elections.
Earlier on Tuesday, the MKP was expected to announce its election machinery for the city. Last week, Zuma presided over the election of the team and emphasised the importance of winning the R60 billion budget for the eThekwini Municipality.
willem.phungula@inl.co.za