Battle to succeed Zuma causing tensions in KZN

THE battle to succeed President Jacob Zuma in December has created serious tensions among some ANC members in KwaZulu-Natal, with allegations of the use of guns to intimidate others.

Ward 5 ANC branch secretary in Tugela Ferry, Simphiwe Mbhele, on Friday wrote a letter to KZN ANC provincial secretary Super Zuma, and party secretary-general Gwede Mantashe complaining about the conduct of his branch chairman Nkonzo Ndlovu.

The relationship between Mbhele and Ndlovu has broken down as a result of their differences on who should be elected as next leader of the ANC.

Mbhele alleged that Ndlovu had flouted ANC branch general meeting guidelines in order to get Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma nominated over Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa without opposition.

He said the branch has 124 card-carrying members, but out of 45 participants in the BGM held on Thursday evening only 28 of them were legitimate members. He said 17 others were ordinary community members who were brought to the meeting because they supported Dlamini Zuma.

“Our BGM did not meet the quorum, and on top of that there were people who were not members. Because of our 124 membership we should at least have 63 members to form the BGM quorum.

“On entering the venue people’s membership was not verified even though I insisted that should be done. I asked another person why he signed on the name of the comrade who was not present,” said Mbhele.

His complaints are among many that have been raised in KZN since the process started two weeks ago. They are mainly about gate-keeping, and they were raised in Durban and Kokstad.

Mbhele said he sent the letter of dispute to Mantashe and Zuma on Friday.

According to the letter, the voter’s roll that was used was not the same one Mbhele had signed after the final auditing.

He said one member appeared to have renewed his membership on March 17 whereas that member died in 2015.

“There was no verification of members, no IDs were shown, and strangely as secretary I was not allowed to attend to the register.

“Signatures were forged,” he said.