ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula. Photo: Luba Resore/Gallo Images
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says the KwaZulu-Natal party leadership is unable to match the province's Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party and intervention is necessary.
“We're fighting Ferrari there in Conquest. To top what's happening there, we need to pit Ferrari against flying machines that move faster in seconds. “Our approval rating has dropped to 17%. “No one can say we can't do anything about it,” Mbalula said on Monday, referring to the ANC's sharp loss of support in the state in the May 29 general election. spoke.
“Those who think the ANC has become weak, we will rebuild it and come back. We are not going to hand over the ANC to anyone, whether it is Jacob Zuma or anyone. We will protect the recovery of the ANC with local ANC members,'' he told reporters in Boksburg after a meeting of the party's National Working Committee (NWC) and KwaZulu-Natal Executive Committee (PEC).
The party says it cannot operate as usual given its dismal election results in the state, where its approval ratings plummeted from 54% in 2019 to 17% this year.
The National Working Committee held a fact-finding mission in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng into how the ANC lost votes in both provinces. In order to strengthen the ANC's structure ahead of the 2026 local government elections, the ANC is considering disbanding the provincial executive committee and replacing it with a task team.
It is also considering the option of “reinforcing” them by sending in senior leaders to take command effectively in the state.
From an organizational perspective, Mbalula said “nothing good is going to happen” in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, and said the party needed decisive leadership to recover.
“We have done a thorough job in terms of analyzing these provinces, so we are now in a good position to work with KwaZulu-Natal and provide feedback. And we plan to do that.”
Some in the ANC believe that dissolving the provincial organization will only further exacerbate divisions in the party and that the National Executive Committee (NEC) should not be spared the aftermath of a disastrous election in which the party lost its full parliamentary majority for the first time. Some people think so. time.
Mr Mbalula said the party had disbanded organizations in the past when necessary.
“We are not going to fold our arms and wait for the total annihilation of the ANC. “We are fulfilling the mandate given to us by the National Conference to reorganize.”
“We have passed the emotional stage. What is important here is the defense of the revolution and the defense of the ANC. In that work we have no friends. Our friendship is the ANC. .Whatever decision we make, we will live by it.”
Mr Mbalula has prohibited provincial leaders from speaking in the media about discussions of the National Working Committee or its possible dissolution.
But last week, KwaZulu-Natal Chief Secretary Bheki Mtolo hit back at Luthuli House in a commemorative speech.
“Led by NEC” [Cyril] Mr Ramaphosa and Mr Mbalula lost the country with 40%. They have to take that responsibility. We accept our own responsibility for losing the province by 17%,” said Mtolo, adding that the poor performance in KwaZulu-Natal was symptomatic of wider problems facing the ANC nationally. He added that there is.
He said internal divisions and a lack of accountability had left the party in turmoil, and the ANC would struggle to regain public trust until leaders at all levels accepted their role in this decline. I warned you that it would be.
Mr Mbalula said on Monday that Mr Mtolo's words meant nothing and that as secretary-general he would speak on behalf of the ANC on the issue, which he had heard from Vice-President Paul Mashatile at the beginning of the meeting. He said that this was explained to the leaders.
“Anyone who crosses that line will be able to finish because the center has to keep,” Mbalula said. These are not reflections without obligation. This is a position that SG is obligated to go and explain, and I have done that.
“Anyone who speaks after me… in terms of the ANC's disciplinary structure, we will take them to the incineration plant. No one is authorized to speak on this issue other than the Secretary-General. ”
