Zuma slams KZN for NDZ vote flop
President said to have blamed provincial leaders for selling Nkosazana short
An irate President Jacob Zuma scolded KwaZulu-Natal ANC leaders after the province failed to deliver overwhelming support for his preferred candidate, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Three senior provincial leaders told the Sunday Times that Zuma was so angry with the outcome of the provincial general council that he gave the closing event a miss.
Zuma had expected KwaZulu-Natal to deliver a Nasrec delegation solidly in favour of Dlamini-Zuma to close the gap between her and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has received nominations from five provinces.
But Ramaphosa won 191 nominations in Zuma’s KwaZulu-Natal stronghold, with Dlamini-Zuma receiving 454.
“He [Zuma] asked the leadership if they were really in charge, and said the province has never been this weak,” said one member of the provincial executive committee.
President Jacob Zuma snubbed the ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial general council after expressing his unhappiness to provincial leaders about the number of nominations his preferred candidate, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, had received.
Three senior ANC leaders in KwaZuluNatal said an angry Zuma, who was in Durban at the time the provincial general council took place, berated chairman Sihle Zikalala and other leaders for failing to deliver a landslide victory for Dlamini-Zuma in the province.
Dlamini-Zuma delivered the closing speech in Zuma’s place.
Zuma is said to have been peeved that his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, managed to get 191 branch nominations in the province considered to be Zuma’s stronghold. Dlamini-Zuma received 454 nominations.
The Dlamini-Zuma camp expected the KwaZulu-Natal nomination outcome to give her enough nominations to catch up with Ramaphosa. But overall results show she still lags behind Ramaphosa in the nominations count.
Zuma is said to have spoken to ANC KwaZulu-Natal leaders on the sidelines of the Terminal Operators Conference and Exhibition, an event for port operators, at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, a stone’s throw from the Olive Convention Centre where the provincial general council was taking place.
“He asked the leadership if they were really in charge and said the province has never been this weak,” said a provincial executive committee member.
This was corroborated by another ANC leader, who said Zuma was unhappy and believed “not enough political work” had been done in the province in the lead-up to branch general meetings.
Misgivings expressed
He said the president expressed his misgivings to Zikalala about deputy chairman Willies Mchunu having been left to run the provincial general council proceedings.
“Come to think of it, it is unprecedented for Zuma not to attend such a big gathering in his home province. This is a man who rocked up uninvited at a rally in Stanger, where he was not even billed to speak, but TG [treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize] was.”
Zikalala denied on Friday that Zuma was unimpressed but admitted that he and the president had discussed the provincial general council proceedings briefly.
“Yes, we spoke about the PGC. To the contrary, he was very impressed with the outcome and with how we conducted it. He thanked us and congratulated us for holding a successful PGC. So what they told you is a lie,” said Zikalala.
On Tuesday, Zikalala told eager delegates that Zuma was never meant to address the provincial general council. “The president was only here for a programme of the department
He [Zuma] asked the leadership if they were really in charge and said the province has never been this weak ANC provincial executive committee member
of economic development, tourism and environmental affairs. Thus he has left for Johannesburg, where he will be addressing a Sasco conference,” he said.
However, Zuma did not attend the South African Students Congress conference.
Zuma's spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga denied that the president was scheduled to address the KwaZulu-Natal PGC. He said Zuma had to fly to Johanneburg because he was invited to speak at the Sasco meeting.
Dlamini-Zuma’s campaigners scrambled to justify the low number of branch nominations she received at the KwaZulu-Natal provincial general council, which could dent her presidential ambitions.
Provincial secretary Super Zuma sought to downplay the issue, saying members were satisfied with the number of nominations their presidential hopeful had received.
“I think we achieved what we were looking for and we are satisfied that we are within our targets,” he said at the closure of the provincial general council this week.
Carl Niehaus, one of Dlamini-Zuma’s campaigners, was very happy with the outcome of the PGC. He said the large number of nominations she had received was indicative of the strong support she had in the province and that this support had clearly not eroded.