Despite organisational challenges faced by the ANC’s 11 regional structures in KwaZulu-Natal, all conferences including that of the province, will be held next month.
Regions like Moses Mabhida (Pietermaritzburg) and eThekwini which are the biggest in the province, have been reportedly struggling to reorganise branches as those who joined the Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) were holding dual membership.
However, the party’s provincial coordinator Mike Mabuyakhulu said all conferences must be held as per the roadmap that was given to regional task teams.
In an interview on Tuesday, Mabuyakhulu said everything was continuing as per the roadmap so the regions were still operating on the plan that was approved. He said that according to the roadmap, the provincial conference was set for 28 to 30 November.
“We are still operating according to the roadmap. The provincial conference will take place from 28 to 30 November and nothing has changed,” said Mabuyakhulu
His insistence that conferences will go ahead comes amid outcries from the regions, particularly eThekwini and Moses Mabhida, which had cast doubt on the feasibility of the roadmap. These two regions complained that the MKP’s dual membership tactics were disrupting the branches’ audit work, and they could not verify who was still in the party.
In August, the party’s provincial leadership directed all 11 regions to hold an elective conference by the end of the year.
In terms of the road map, all branches were given until the end of September to complete the audit, then start holding branch elective conferences until the end of October.
A member of the ANC in the Moses Mabhida region, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said none of the branches in her region have sat and she had doubts that all branches would have elected leadership by the end of October. She said although branches have just finished their audits, there are still objections which may cause further delays.
“A roadmap is a document but the reality on the ground is that it is practically impossible to meet these deadlines. Our regional conference’s projected date is 22 to 23 November, however, we are unsure that will be ready,” said the source.
Although eThekwini’s branches finished their audits two weeks ago, it is not clear whether there is a branch that has elected new leadership.
Thinta Cibane, the spokesperson for the regional task team, said he was in a meeting and unable to talk.
However, a party member from the region said he was not aware of a single branch that has held a conference.
