Durban – The ANC national executive committee (NEC) has taken a decision to support and join the KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive committee’s (PEC) appeal against the Pietermaritzburg High Court ruling, which declared its 2015 elective conference unlawful and void, provincial secretary Super Zuma said on Tuesday.
The case was brought by ANC councillor Lawrence Dube and four others in May 2016, following results which saw former premier Senzo Mchunu being ousted as provincial chairperson and being replaced by Sihle Zikalala.
The "rebels" claimed the conference was not only held prematurely, but that it was riddled with irregularities and that the results were rigged.
Zikalala received 780 votes, while Mchunu got 675 votes, in a process where 1 459 delegates voted.
Zikalala, his deputy Willies Mchunu, the ANC itself, the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa, and other top ANC figures are the respondents in the matter.
The PEC had held a special meeting with the NEC on Sunday at the Coastlands Hotel in Durban, said Zuma.
'Resuscitating talks of unity'
"The PEC, together with the national officials, held a day-long extensive and candid discussion on the current state of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, and challenges emanating from the Pietermaritzburg High Court judgment," he said.
Zuma said it was their (NEC and PEC) collective and considered view that the judgment contained "wider implications".
"It has a potential to distort and weaken the authority of the PEC and the NEC, which are the supreme structures of [the] organisation, with the authority to lead and make decisions in between conferences," he said.
Zuma said the PEC welcomed and respected the decision of the NEC "to continue and recognise the existence of the ANC KZN PEC elected at the 8th provincial conference in November 2015, despite the current legal processes".
The PEC reiterated their belief that another court would come to a different conclusion.
Zuma said they were in the process of "resuscitating" talks of unity in KwaZulu-Natal ANC.
'There must be compromises'
There was a "firm convergence of views" within and among all ANC leaders and structures in KwaZulu-Natal on the imperative to work for the unity of the party, he said.
"Three-aside teams [from the two factions] started discussions immediately after the 2015 provincial conference, but those talks did not yield the desired results. We are resuscitating those talks now because we’re prioritising the issue of unity," he said.
It was in the best interests of the party that they discussed "these difficulties that we are experiencing", he said.
Provincial spokesperson Mdumiseni Ntuli said the unity talks would not be easy.
"There must be compromises in terms of attitude and public articulations. As the PEC, we believe part of the effort to deal with these problems is to avoid calling each other names that are unpalatable.
"Let’s work with each other on the basis of concrete differences, not on the basis of the assertions that we make in public that have nothing to do with the problems we are facing," he said.
