Mchunu opts for amicable solution

Former ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial chairperson Senzo Mchunu has extended an olive branch to his adversaries in the current provincial leadership, calling for peace and dialogue as the best way to resolve their differences.

This amid calls from the party rank and file in the province for Mchunu and his ousted provincial executive committee (PEC) to be immediately reinstated in the light of this week’s court ruling. The High Court in Pietermaritzburg ruled on Tuesday that the November 2015 provincial conference at which the present leadership was elected was unlawful and declared it null and void.

The court decision implied that the present leadership, led by party provincial chairperson Sihle Zikalala, had no legal status and powers to make decisions. Mchunu was defeated in the election by Zikalala, who was previously his provincial secretary in the ousted PEC.

Since then, the province has been divided into those supporting Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa as successor to Zuma for ANC president.

Zikalala backs Dlamini-Zuma while Mchunu has managed to sway many in the traditionally Zuma-supporting province to side with Ramaphosa.

Mchunu, who warmly welcomed the ruling of the high court, said the court ruling presented an opportunity for dialogue between the old and the new leaderships.

“The court has ruled, there is no winner and no loser in this matter. It simply demonstrated that the branches of the ANC have real power in the organisation and that power has to be consolidated,” Mchunu said.

He told The Citizen that they have to meet as leaders to chart a way forward that would be in the “best interest of the party”.

“The court has ruled on this matter, we would wish to use this opportunity in the organisation to dialogue. We have to look at ourselves and ask what is best for the organisation,” he said.

Mchunu did not believe suggestions that the entire current PEC must resign and the old one returned was the best way to deal with the matter.

“We are rather going to look at the organisation’s interest, or we might end up competing among ourselves,” he said.

Political analyst Dr Somadoda Fikeni yesterday said Mchunu’s suggestion for a dialogue rather than revenge was the way to go under the circumstances.

“A political solution is better than going back to a legal stalemate that would drag on and on,” Fikeni said.

The court decision had raised fears about the province’s representation in the upcoming national conference in December as some claimed the current leadership had not status to be involved.