By Simon Nare
The reconfigured ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial task team, which has to beef up the party ahead of the local government elections next year, was unveiled on Tuesday.
It will be led by party veteran and former minister Jeff Radebe and retains former ANC chairman Sboniso Duma as its deputy.
While announcing the members, ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula warned that the party would defend its decision in court if it came to that.
Introducing the new leadership at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, Mbalula told journalists that the reconfiguration was a decisive intervention by the party’s national executive committee.
It would reinforce the ANC’s structures and consolidate its presence in the province after its dismal performance at the national and provincial elections last year.
The highest decision-making body between conferences earlier this year resolved to disband KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. They will now be led by task teams
The Gauteng team will be unveiled on Wednesday.
Mbalula argued that reconfiguring the two structures should not be seen as punishment or apportioning blame to anyone. Instead, the leadership of the party had to strengthen these structures ahead of the local government polls.
The KZN task team will be led by Radebe as convenor with Weziwe Thusi as first deputy, Duma as second deputy, Mike Mabuyakhulu as co-ordinator, former premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube as deputy co-ordinator and Nomagugu Simelane as fundraiser.
“The reconfiguration of the provincial leadership is a decisive intervention to reinforce our structures, renew the movement and consolidate our presence in a province that plays a crucial role in the political and economic trajectory of South Africa.
“These two provinces not only have the largest populations but also hold significant economic weight, making them critical to the country’s development. Recognising the electoral setbacks of 2024, the NEC undertook an extensive and reflective discussion on the state of organisation, renewal and rebuilding efforts, with the unity of the ANC as the primary objective,” said Mbalula.
He praised party members in the province for remaining disciplined during consultations about the new structure. However, he stressed that if the party was taken to court over the establishment of the task team, it was ready to defend its decision.
He said the new structure has been given six months to get its house in order and as early as next week Monday, it would meet to map the way forward.
Mbalula said the party leadership was satisfied that it had respected all the 11 regions in the province by giving them the feedback on the decision to disband the structure.
“Our structures in KZN have in no doubt conducted themselves with discipline and orderly fashion in the way the ANC has to conduct itself. It does not mean that they agreed with the decision or they did not have dissenting voices with regards to what they were reading in the press and so on.
“But they respected the leadership, and in this particular instance, we are satisfied that the centre holds and our organisation has demonstrated important signs of decency and decorum which is how the ANC conducted its affairs over the years,” he said.
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