ANC RESPONDS TO MALICIOUS MEDIA REPORTS
23 July 2013
The African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal wishes to express its condolences to the family of Cde Nkosiphendule Kolisi, the ANC REC Deputy Chairperson of West Rand Region and MEC for Economic Development in Gauteng who died in a horrific car accident this past weekend. His sudden departure is not only a loss to his family and ANC in Gauteng, but to the entire organisation.
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has observed with dismay the recent media reports over the weekend which suggested that our province is divided and imposes itself as a "big brother" in the ANC. The ANC in the province is concerned about these media reports which were reported with no facts and based on information from faceless sources.
The province wants to reiterate the confidence it has in the current Premier and the National Treasurer General, Comrade Zweli Mkhize. We are confident that Cde Mkhize is capable of executing his tasks and he continues to excel in his duties as a Premier of this province (see report).
The issue of Cde Mkhize being full time as the Treasurer General of the ANC is not in the hands of the province as it falls under the jurisdiction of the ANC national leadership. The ANC does not want to be drawn on the issue of when the Premier will relocate to ANC Head Office on full time basis. In this regard, we wish to state categorically clear that there is no pressure on our side as the ANC Provincial Executive Committee to move Cde Zweli Mkhize to Luthuli House.
We view the weekend reports as nothing but attempts to create mistrust and sow divisions in the organisation. The ANC is concerned that these reports are based on information from unverified faceless sources which in essence is a reflection of ill-discipline and lack of political consciousness.
In the same vein, it is a far-fetch view that there is a serious contestation for the KwaZulu-Natal premiership position between the Provincial Chairperson Cde Senzo Mchunu and Provincial Deputy Chairperson, Cde Willies Mchunu. Both the Provincial Chairperson and Deputy Provincial Chairperson are seasoned cadres of our movement who are informed by the desire to take to the organisation to high level and have never placed their ambitions above those of the organisation. We want to put it clear that there is no "battle of the Mchunus" as it was recently reported in the media.
On Cde Cyril Ramaphosa
One of the Sunday newspapers carried a story that suggested that the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal advances a view that there should be a female Deputy President of the country after the 2014 General Elections. This view is very unfortunate and it is surely done to undermine unity of the ANC in the country as a whole. There is no such a discussion in the province and we have no intention of assuming the work of National Deployment Committee and National Leadership.
This campaign resonates with the on-going campaign of portraying the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal as pushy and trying to dominate the national politics of the ANC. The province is part of the ANC, which is a unitary organisation and therefore will never attempt to determine the National Politics.
In this regards, we want to reiterate our confidence to the collective leadership of the ANC as whole and the impression that we prefer one leader over the other is just a fermented view that only exists in the minds of those who wish to see the ANC divided. It is worth noting that we experienced a similar attack, where the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal was pitted against other provinces ahead of the ANC national conference in Mangaung.
We have no doubt that the immediate objective of this attempt is to isolate our province and weaken the strength of the ANC. This is not the attack to our province but to the ANC at large.
We would like to urge members of the ANC to focus on the election campaign, organisational work and ignore the ANC distractors who want to sow division in the organisation. We want to warn the faceless people to refrain from distorting organisational decisions as that put the organisation into disrepute.
Statement issued by Senzo Mkhize, ANC KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson, July 23 2013
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
