‘Mkhize failed my region’
ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize was accused of failing to unite the Harry Gwala region when he was the ANC chairperson in KwaZuluNatal, and, by implication, allowing the region to become a hotspot for political killings and rampant corruption, the Moerane Commission heard yesterday.
Mkhize yesterday rejected the allegations, saying the events of that time were traumatic and should not be utilised for political point scoring.
“I am not aware of the above allegations related to the regional conference of 2009. I am not aware of any ‘irregularities’, nor were any complaints brought to the attention of the party leadership, myself included.
Complaints
“The party has a complaints mechanism to investigate and follow through on such complaints, if and when received.
“Unity within my party is, and always will be, my first priority,” said Mkhize.
Mkhize is one of the presidential candidates for the ANC conference in December.
His name was mentioned several times at the commission, which is investigating political killings in KwaZulu-Natal, although he was not linked to killings and corruption.
Testifying before commission chairperson Marumo Moerane, former ANC Youth League Harry Gwala region secretary Thabiso Zulu said he had lost confidence in Mkhize when the latter failed to addressed irregularities at the regional conference, which Mkhize chaired in 2009.
He said that if Mkhize had corrected irregularities at the conference, and other senior ANC leaders had dealt with corruption that was committed by the leaders elected at the conference, the spate of political killings in Umzimkhulu and the Harry Gwala region would not have occurred.
“Comrade Zweli Mkhize failed my region. We loved him. We looked at comrade Zweli as our own father, but comrade Zweli failed the young people of Harry Gwala,” he said.
In 2009, Zulu was the leader of the regional ANC Youth League under the chairmanship of Sindiso Magaqa, the former league secretary-general. Magaqa died in hospital after being shot in Umzimkhulu this year.
Zulu told mourners at Magaqa’s funeral last month that the Umzimkhulu Municipality was ridden with corruption and was linked to political murders in the greater region.
Yesterday’s testimony was the first time that he linked Mkhize to the irregularities in 2009.
In his testimony, he said the allegations of corruption had not been investigated despite his sending e-mails to the ANC in the province and nationally.
He said his emails to the police and crime intelligence units had been ignored.
“I believe that if the emails had been taken seriously, some of the killings in Umzimkhulu and Harry Gwala would not have taken place,” he said.
He claimed that the ANC regional conference, which Mkhize had chaired, had elected leaders who became involved in corrupt activities, and that the corrupt leaders were involved in gun running, money laundering, infidelity and arranging “jobs for pals”.
He claimed that “thugs” who had arrived from Pietermaritzburg had prevented him and Magaqa from participating at the conference “because we were known to be vocal against corruption”.
“We tried everything, we asked comrades that had served with him (Mkhize) to call him to come out of the conference venue (so we could talk to him).
“He did not come out. The man who speaks about unity did not unite us. He failed to go and listen to the other side,” he said.
Zulu was expected to continue with his testimony today.