›riŽ s—’’ort „ase in —Ž—Žand coŽŽa’ses

DURBAN - Once firmly united in the cause of getting Cyril Ramaphosa elected as ANC President in 2017, the leadership of the governing party’s Mzala Nxumalo (Zululand district) region in northern KwaZulu-Natal has now fragmented into two factions fighting for regional power.

Ahead of the Nasrec conference, the region, then under the chairmanship of the late Sipho Nkosi, broke ranks with the provincial ANC which was backing Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and backed Ramaphosa.

Its wish was granted when Ramaphosa narrowly took the party’s crown at Nasrec. In February 2020 Ramaphosa visited the region to thank it in an event which was held in the town of Vryheid, saying he was fulfilling an undertaking he made long ago.

Changed

However, almost two years later, things have changed as his backers have turned against each other, weakening a block he would desperately need in December this year as he fights for a second term.

The region is scheduled to hold its elective conference on the weekend of January 28 to 30 in Vryheid and two dominant factions are at each other’s throats.

One slate is led by Sbu Mhlongo, the outgoing regional chairperson who, together with the late Nkosi, backed Ramaphosa at Nasrec. Mhlongo was until November last year the mayor of Uphongolo municipality along the border with eSwatini. Mhlongo is up against a faction that is led by Mpumelelo Zulu, who in his bid for regional power, is twinning with Zakhele Buthelezi, the long time regional secretary who has previously worked with Nkosi, Zulu and Mhlongo himself.