Tazz is the people's car: KZN ANC coordinator responds to Mbalula's Ferrari jibe
ANC KwaZulu-Natal Task Team Co-ordinator, Mike Mabuyakhulu, has commended the ANC Harry Gwala Region for its support and asserted that as ANC members they are not loyal to individuals but to the organisation. Mabuyakhulu indirectly responded to the party's secretary genera's Toyota Tazz jibe.
Image: TUMI PAKKIES Independent Newspapers
THE ANC's KwaZulu-Natal task team provincial coordinator, Mike Mabuyakhulu, has indirectly responded to party secretary-general Fikile Mbalula's recent jibe likening the task team to the discontinued Toyota Tazz rather than a Ferrari.
Mabuyakhulu took the criticism on the chin and turned the narrative around, praising the Tazz as a dependable, accessible vehicle familiar to ordinary people.
Speaking on the last day of the ANC's National General Council (NGC) last week, Mbalula expressed disappointment with the performance of the KZN task team.
"KZN was a big disappointment. We did not achieve what we wanted to achieve in that province. In February next year we will put them aside and appoint new people," said Mbalula.
He added that while the party had hoped to install a "Ferrari", it had instead ended up with a "Tazz".
Mbalula attributed the impending disbandment of the task team to factional battles, describing the structure as bloated and plagued by constant infighting over leadership.
Addressing an ANC Cadres Forum in the Sindiso Jetro Magaqa Sub-Region under the Harry Gwala Region at Mzimkhulu TVET College on Sunday, Mabuyakhulu said he was unfamiliar with Ferraris beyond photographs.
"When you are a leader, you don't speak recklessly. You heard talk about something called a Tazz and a Ferrari. What I am saying, comrades, is that I have never seen a Ferrari in real life; I have only seen it in pictures. I have never ridden in one," said Mabuyakhulu.
"The Ferrari is for a select few. It cannot drive on gravel roads; its ground clearance is too low. It cannot survive township potholes. It is too expensive.
"But a Tazz is a family car. A Tazz is a people's car. It is a car we are familiar with; it is not a two-seater, it carries the whole family. The masses know the Tazz. They hear about the Ferrari, but they do not know it. We may idolise the Ferrari, but we know the Tazz. It serves us."
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula who has announced that the party will disband the ANC KwaZulu-Natal Task Team early next year as it had been a "disappointment".
Image: ITUMELENG ENGLISH Independent Newspapers
Mabuyakhulu also commended the ANC's Harry Gwala Region for its loyalty to the organisation.
"Comrades, we did not join an individual, so we will not be loyal to an individual. We love, respect and admire our leaders, but we are not loyal to them because we did not join individuals," he said.
He further highlighted the region's importance to the ANC, particularly in electoral terms.
"When we are here in this sub-region (Sindiso Jetro Magaqa Sub-Region), we want to say this gathering is very important. Had last year been local government elections, we would have been left with only Mzimkhulu municipality. The ANC recognises you.
"Another municipality in Harry Gwala, in Kokstad. In other municipalities, we would have had to negotiate," Mabuyakhulu said.
The ANC had been given a mandate to hold an elective conference by November, but this did not happen. The structure replaced the provincial executive committee (PEC) earlier this year with an aim to rebuild the party's branches across the province.
The PEC was reconfigured following a humiliating defeat at the national and provincial elections in May last year, where the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) emerged with the largest number of votes.
The ANC suffered a defeat across the province, which placed it as number three in the tally of the most votes, with MKP at the summit, followed by the IFP.