Durban — The ANC in eThekwini said it has managed to counter the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party’s surge among its branches in the region.
In an effort to counter the surge of the former president Jacob Zuma backed party, the ANC in eThekwini last week directed its branches to compile reports on the impact the new party was having on its members. On Tuesday, the party said the preliminary report from branches suggested that MK has had very little impact as fewer members have left the ANC for the MK party.
The ANC regional spokesperson, Mlondi Mkhize, said although the branches were given until today (Wednesday) to submit assessment reports, the preliminary findings revealed no major shift except for a couple of members who have left. Mkhize said although losing one member was concerning for the ANC, they were happy that their branches were still intact, adding that no branch executive members have joined the new party.
“Overall we are happy that the new party has not made any dent to our membership although we are concerned with the few that have joined the new party. I think those people we are seeing on social platforms with the party are people who are either from other parties or people who are not associated with any party,” said Mkhize.
He further stated that the only concern was that those members swelling MK may have been voting for the ANC and the next phase would be to target them not to stop voting for the ANC.
Last Tuesday, eThekwini regional secretary Musa Nciki issued a guiding template to all branches to fill in and return it today (Wednesday).
In the template – seen by the Daily News – branches were asked to compile a list of members who have joined or have been witnessed mobilising for the MK party. Branches were also asked to monitor the conduct of alliance partners, especially the SA National Civil Organisation (Sanco). The ANC also wanted its branches to find which influential people in the branches were backing the MK party. The ANC said it was concerned and wanted to know whether there were members of the party associating themselves with the MK while they were still card-carrying members of the ANC.
An ANC insider in the province said the ANC in eThekwini was targeting Sanco members unfairly with this directive because it refused to take action against Zuma for ditching the ANC while he remains the leader of Sanco, which has an alliance with the ANC. On Monday, the MK party was on the blitz in uMlazi and KwaMashu as well as areas around Durban. Although the party has the backing of Zuma, it has not yet taken any senior member of the ANC. Zuma was also expected to use his position as KwaZulu-Natal Sanco chairperson to garner support for the MK. The party was also yet to unveil its leadership structures despite claims that it has recruited more than three million members. A Sanco member in eThekwini who was a delegate when Zuma was elected as the provincial chairperson said as much as she personally liked him, she was against his decision to dump the ANC after it shielded him so much while facing corruption and rape charges. The member said in her branch there were ANC members who had crossed to MK because they were angry like Zuma. She added that those people included the ones who stood as independent candidates after the ANC did not select them.
“As Sanco members we will campaign for the ANC as per our last conference where Zuma was elected as the chairperson of Sanco in KwaZulu-Natal,” said the member.
Sanco KwaZulu-Natal deputy chairperson Lawrence Dube said Sanco in KwaZulu-Natal was still fully behind the ANC.
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Daily News