Dlamini-Zuma’s KZN cheerleaders lobby hard

Despite the legal challenge to the legitimacy of the ANC leadership in KwaZulu-Natal, it is pushing ahead with its programme to lobby other provinces to back Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s bid for the ANC presidency in December.

On Monday the KwaZulu-Natal provincial working committee, led by chairperson Sihle Zikalala and secretary Super Zuma, met their Free State counterparts in Durban to lobby support for Dlamini-Zuma and to discuss key policy proposals regarding the mining and other sectors of the economy.

They agreed to continue with their defence of President Jacob Zuma, both in countering the opposition and in taking on his critics in the ruling party.

A KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson said the two committees agreed to back the call for an “urgent investigation’’ into those believed to have voted for the August 3 vote of no confidence in the president.

They would also continue to push the idea, recently motivated by the Zuma camp, that defeated candidates will still serve in the ANC’s top six — an apparent bid to ensure that Dlamini-Zuma will have a post if she is not elected president of the party (and in effect president of the country).

The KwaZulu-Natal contingent recently had a meeting with Mpumalanga’s provincial executive in a bid to rein in Mpumalanga chairperson David Mabuza, who has appeared on a slate headed by deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa. This followed the KwaZulu-Natal leaders’ meeting with Gauteng, which is swinging in favour of Ramaphosa.

ANC KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Mdumiseni Ntuli said the province would meet North West leaders next in a bid to get them to back Dlamini-Zuma. And next month they are to hold meetings with the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape leaders.

“We will continue with our programme of meeting with other provinces to discuss areas of common approach and discuss issues of common concern,’’ Ntuli said.

He added that KwaZulu-Natal’s programme of regional conferences would kick off in October, with the Ukhahlamba region already signed off by ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe.

Ntuli defended the dissolution of the party’s Emalahleni regional leadership and the removal of administrative functions from the Lower South Coast, Far North and Harry Gwala regions ahead of their conferences.

He said that, although the move meant the province would take over the branch general meetings to select delegates for the regional and national conferences, it would be supervised by deployees from head office.

“We removed functions from the regions when it became clear that there would not be the capacity to preside over a region conference of the ANC and come up with a credible outcome,’’ he said.