‘Disbandment of Gauteng, KZN ANC PECs not a foregone conclusion’

ANC Secretary General, Fikile Mbalula addresses the media in Johannesburg on December 8, 2024.

3 minutes

African National Congress (ANC) Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula says the disbandment of the party’s Provincial Executive Committees (PECs) in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal is not a foregone conclusion.

This follows fears that the two provincial structures could be disbanded after their dismal performance in the May 29 polls.

Although the ANC in Gauteng is leading the provincial government, it only scooped 35% of the votes, while in KZN the ANC was in third place, after garnering 17% of the votes.

The ANC National Working Committee (NWC) is meeting the Gauteng leadership today after meeting their KZN counterparts last week.

Briefing the media in Johannesburg yesterday, Mbalula says, “There is no fate accompli in terms of Gauteng and KZN. We will meet with them and from there we will go to the NWC and from the NWC we will go to the NEC. Even on Monday, it will be the same process. We will engage with them and we will tell them what we think. Whatever decision we arrive at, it will be a decision to strengthen the ANC in Gauteng and KZN. This is not a game, it is about the life and death of the ANC. The ANC must recover in Gauteng and KZN and that is not about personalities, it is about the organisation how it responds to our demise in these provinces.”

He laid out the actions that needed to be taken.

“For instance some of the regions have collapsed and the ANC has no chance to come back. ANC lost the biggest Metro eThekwini. You can’t tell me that the leadership that is right thinking can just go to bed and sleep nicely with the belief that everything is intact. From an organisational point of view, nothing is well in KZN and nothing is well in Gauteng. But from an organisational point of view, do we have leadership, is the center holding? You have got to be a decisive leadership.”

He insists if taking tough decision against the two provinces means losing friendship so be it.

“We did not even drop in these provinces. You can’t even start to compare as much as we dropped everywhere. We are out of power. Its 35% in Gauteng and 17% in KZN, we have lost elections. We are number three in KZN as much as we are number one in Gauteng, still but we have dropped and you want to compare that to another province that is still in power. We are fighting to come back. We have got the biggest metros in these areas and you want to tell us that the leadership of the ANC must fold arms and not do anything because we are dealing with egos of people, is not about that even if it means we must lose friends in decision-making for the organisation it must happen.”

After today’s meeting the outcomes will then be tabled before another NWC meeting before a final decision that would be taken. The party’s year-end National Executive Committee meeting scheduled for this coming Saturday.