A region with a long history of deep divisions and disunity – finally has a new regional leadership.
Mzi Thebolla, the mayor of Msunduzi Municipality in Pietermaritzburg has defeated Mzi Zuma – uMgungundlovu District Municipality mayor, for the position of regional Chair.
Samora Ndlovu – Richmond Local Municipality Mayor is the new regional secretary of the ANC’s second biggest region in KwaZulu-Natal.
Moses Mabhida last held a regional conference in 2014. The immediate task for the newly elected leadership is to rebuild the fragile region and revive an ailing ANC that’s losing electoral support on all fronts.
Thebolla said, “one of the immediate tests that we must do, is to unite the organization in our region. The recent local government election results have shown us that the organization that is divided, can be punished by the electorate.”
“So, our immediate task is to regain the lost ground, is to regain the trust of the people of Moses Mabhida and of course I believe in the long term is to also win back the municipalities that we lost during the last elections. But, the organization is also in the process of renewal. We believe that ours is to contribute in renewing the ANC becoming an organization of today. In our history, the ANC is the organization that is able to adapt to the current challenges.”
With possible threats of legal action by some aggrieved party members to challenge the conference – Thebolla is hopeful this won’t happen.
He said, “we are very positive because had there been any chance of that, I think whoever that would have wanted to challenge this conference would have done that before we even started the conference.”
“The fact that we were able to start the conference, up to this stage. I don’t think there will be any challenges. Of course, if there is any, we will cross that bridge when we get to it.”
The newly elected regional secretary – Samora Ndlovu – says one of the immediate tasks for the new leadership is to fix ailing municipalities within the uMgungundlovu District Municipality – under the party’s Moses Mabhida region.
Ndolvu said, “there are municipalities that we must agree that interns of the task, they are not up to standard. There is one municipality that is under an administration which is Mooi River. We need to work hard to strive to ensure that the Municipality is out of administration. We need to focus also on Msunduzi, all the issues of Msunduzi as Msunduzi is the Capital City of KwaZulu-Natal. We need to focus on service delivery of Msunduzi, cleaning of the town, patching of the potholes, and making sure that the other municipalities that are operating fairly are sustained, they are also stable both politically and administratively.”
KwaZulu-Natal ANC Chair Sihle Zikalala has urged party members to prioritize unity of the ailing organization.
He has also weighed-in on the ongoing developments around former president Jacob Zuma.
He said, “the painful arrest of the former President is the most bitter incident we have experienced in the recent years in the organization. This further fueled divisions in the society as many among community members felt that the ANC had deserted former President Zuma.”
“As the ANC, we have been taken aback by the recent judgment as we believe that the medical parole was at least desirable given the former President’s age and health conditions.”
Zikalala says the ANC needs to revive its collapsed branches in order to rebuild the organization and ensure a strong showing in the 2024 general elections.
Source: eNCA
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