Zuma ‘saboteur’ in KZN

Fingers point at Jacob Zuma as the main saboteur in the ANC KwaZulu-Natal conferences, both of which collapsed this weekend.

According to the Sunday Times, ANC KZN leader Sihle Zikalala denied claims he had met Zuma any time in the past three weeks in an alleged plot to reopen the fissures in the party’s KZN structures, reportedly being patched together by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

According to the Sunday paper’s sources, on Wednesday Zuma not only spoke at the Congress of South African Students in Durban, suggesting an “outof-the-box” plan to regain the ANC’s two-thirds majority; he is also said to have met some of his loyal supporters, Zikalala, eThekwini chair Zandile Gumede and Moses Mabhida regional chair Mthandeni Dlungwane.

The meeting was supposedly for Zuma to instruct his backers to ditch the settlement deal proposed to foster unity in the provincial structure.

Zikalala and regional structures aligned with him were thereafter informed the deal was no longer on the agenda.

After a faction in the provincial ANC filed a successful court interdict to stop the conference, a “consultative” conference was planned, but that also sank when pro-Zuma delegates on Friday night heckled ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe. The conference was called off on Saturday morning.

The deal reportedly proposes that the KZN ANC conference pick candidates from each faction, similar to the national conference that saw Ramaphosa ascend to the top of the ANC while having as his deputy David Mabuza – thought to be a Zuma supporter.

According to the paper, the list proposes Zikalala as provincial chair, Ramaphosa supporter Mike Mabuyakhulu as elected deputy and former provincial spokesperson Mdumiseni Ntuli as provincial secretary.

But that was a hard sell for Zuma, who is invested in the reappointment of his supporter, Super Zuma, as the provincial secretary, and not Ntuli.

The collapse of the conferences effectively reversed Ramaphosa’s efforts to unite the factions.