The ANC's KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provincial executive committees are set to become the first casualties of the party's dismal performance in the May 29 elections.
The two provinces were the ANC's biggest losers, dropping from over 50% to 36% in Gauteng. In KZN the party declined from 54.2% in 2019 to 17%.
A majority of the ANC's national working committee (NWC) members are said to have backed a call at a meeting on Monday for the executive committees in the two provinces to be disbanded and replaced with interim leaders to take them to the 2026 local government elections.
Eight of the 10 NWC and national executive committee (NEC) members the Sunday Times spoke to this week were adamant that the party would cement this decision at a meeting next month.
Some said the disbandment of the two provincial structures would not receive much pushback and that the big debate was likely to centre on who gets appointed to the task teams.
The NWC meeting, however, did not make a firm recommendation after President Cyril Ramaphosa is said to have delayed the decision.
Acting ANC national spokesperson Zuko Godlimpi said it was normal for the NWC to discuss reports “from its visits” to party structures.
“No, this discussion was not about disbandment but about the report from the Gauteng visit this week. This is standard practice,” he said
But leaders privy to the discussions said the NWC was unanimous in its position on the two provinces, but that in his closing summary Ramaphosa opted not to include a decision.
“The sentiment is very strong. I doubt it will be stopped,” a senior ANC leader told the Sunday Times.
The NWC, which handles the party's day-to-day programmes, held back-to-back meetings with KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng ANC structures over the course of two weeks.
During these meetings, insiders said, fragmented provincial leadership was blamed for the party's poor showing.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the party received less than 17% of the vote after its structures and resources were reportedly usurped by the MK party led by former president Jacob Zuma.
The ANC eventually entered into a government of provincial unity led by the IFP, ensuring it still had a role in governance.
In Gauteng, the national leadership heard that while premier Panyaza Lesufi's programme to electrify townships had assisted the party, it came too late for the ANC to regain trust among voters.
There is a clear agenda by faceless people to discuss the issues of the ANC in the media
— ANC Gauteng secretary TK Nciza
Talk of disbanding the leadership in the two provinces has persisted since the results were announced. ANC Gauteng secretary TK Nciza said his province would not entertain comments from “faceless people”. “There is a clear agenda by faceless people to discuss the issues of the ANC in the media,” he said.
One insider told the Sunday Times Ramaphosa did not outline the decision of the NWC during his closing address at its meeting but instead, “he kept on saying we must start rebuilding branches in Gauteng and KZN”.
“That is why the decision could not fly. The discussions were robust and frank that the situation in the two provinces necessitated a disbandment.”
Six NWC members who spoke to the Sunday Times said secretary-general Fikile Mbalula's report to the body indicated that the party would need to disband and rebuild structures in those two provinces.
“In KZN the leadership is terrible, we can’t continue with them. I’d say the meeting was inconclusive on nailing down the recommendation. The president said let’s go back and work with the branches. But there was a view that the KZN leadership doesn’t respect anybody.
“They marginalised themselves to the branches. You can’t marginalise and insult people. The problem, however, is that if you do away with them and bring in new people, those new people will want to get rid of others and the whole thing becomes messy.”
The insider said that while Ramaphosa's closing address at the Monday meeting did not outline outright that the body was calling for the dissolution of the two provincial structures, a meeting scheduled for tomorrow would surely make this recommendation clear.
The NEC is likely to adopt the recommendation when it meets next month. A special NEC meeting to discuss the state of the organisation was expected to take place on September 28, but the Sunday Times understands it was postponed for a week to allow for the NWC to meet the KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive committee for a second time.
One party leader said that the big debate is now the composition of the task teams in each province.
They said that the party's decision would not affect its government structures, including Lesufi's position.
“At any rate the group in government is drawn from the PEC. It would make sense that when you disband, you retain those in government in the task teams. Panyaza, for instance, is a very popular leader so you can't afford to lose him in government because you have removed him as chair of the PEC. It makes sense to keep him as premier so that he is held accountable and have the task team running affairs. What you want is a seamless accountability, but in KZN there is no obligation to retain (Sboniso) Duma and (Bheki) Mtolo,” they said.
Sunday Times understands that there will be a push for the KwaZulu-Natal task team to be led by Mike Mabuyakhulu.
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