President Cyril Ramaphosa and KZN's ANC leadership visited Ebouleni, met Nazareth Baptist Church leader Nyazirwezulu Shembe and delivered gifts to the leader.Photo: Attached
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa visited Nazareth Baptist Church, commonly known as Shembe Church, on Saturday and promised that the government would build more housing in Inanda, near Ebufulenyi, where the church of 8 million people is headquartered.
The ANC faces stiff competition from the splinter party Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK), which threatens to deny the ruling party a majority in KwaZulu-Natal in the next election, and the Ebufuleni visit was seen as unfair competition. ing. The party is trying to gain support ahead of the election.
The church is led by Mduduzi Shembe, who in recent months has hosted leaders from various political parties seeking the church's blessings and support.
During a visit to the church on Saturday, Ramaphosa promised to build homes for the faithful.
The MK party, led by former president Jacob Zuma, is trying to capture his popularity, particularly in Zuma's home province of KZN.
Although MK party leaders claim that the new party is made up of members of the ANC's liberation struggle military wing, Umkhonto Wesizwe, the majority of former ANC soldiers have distanced themselves from the MK party.
Mr Zuma insists he remains a member of the ANC, despite campaigning for a rival party.
But ANC leaders, who have come under pressure in recent weeks to expel Zuma from the ruling party, say he has been forced out of the party by supporting a rival party.
There were hopes that the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC), which concluded a three-day meeting in Johannesburg on Sunday, would formally condemn Mr Zuma this week, but Mr Zuma recently told MK supporters: Told. ANC”.
ANC KZN provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo has warned that ANC members who ally with the MK party will be suspended from the ANC.
This story was originally published by The Witness.