Inside Politics Reporter
It seems the outspoken ANC Chairman Gwede Mantashe is being censured for his tribalism waffle, during a media briefing with journalists at the IEC’s Results Operating Centre in Midrand on Thursday.
Mantashe, responding to questions on the performance of the MK party, implied that the party’s big support in KwaZulu-Natal was not about politics but was Zulu people voting along tribal lines.
“If the impact is in KZN then it reflects something different. It reflects Zulu tribalism. And I don’t think we should actually lock ourselves into Zulu tribalism. Tribalism is a backward form of politics; it has had its time frame and it lapsed,” Mantashe charged.
Mantashe’s jibe angered some Zulu-speaking people including former ANC member Makhosi Khoza who took to social media to air her displeasure accusing him of disrespecting the Zulu people.
“It actually infuriates me that this insult by Gwede Mantashe of thinking we as the people of KZN exercise our political party of our choice has become characterized as tribalism. Is he not a tribalist?
“Why does he think the people of KZN must be under the ANC corruption spell. Why must the people of KZN be tolerant of a president Ramaphosa that is hugely morally compromised. The most corrupt and indecisive president South Africa has ever had?,” she ranted in a video going viral on social media.
On Friday morning the ANC issued a statement without mentioning Mantashe’s faux pas, urging NEC members to refrain from visiting the Results Operation Centre in an uncoordinated manner and commenting on the 2024 national and provincial elections results.
It said only Deputy Secretary-General Nomvula Mokonyane, elections head Mdumiseni Ntuli, Nkenke Kekana and spokesperson Mahlengu Bhengu-Motsiri would be the only people allowed to comment on the elections results.
“The ANC will issue a formal communication regarding the 2024 NPE once more than half of the results (approximately 10 million votes) have been announced. This statement will be guided by the ANC national officials based on a report by the national elections team,” the party said.
It added that the NEC will receive a report on the elections and its outcomes on the date of the next NEC meeting to be communicated.
The statement didn’t not specify whether its secretary general Fikile Mbalula will be leading the team deployed at the results center.
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