First ANC deputy secretary Nomvula Mokonyane flanked by ANC chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal Siboniso Duma, provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo and treasurer Dr Ntuthuko Mahlaba during an extended provincial executive committee (PEC) which ended on Sunday. Picture: MYANC
Durban — As the ANC embarks on a soul-searching post-election assessment, the party is holding fire on disbanding the provinces and regions that fared badly during the May 29 elections, including KwaZulu-Natal and eThekwini.
The first ANC deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane quashed speculation that KZN and the eThekwini region, both once the ANC’s heartland, would be disbanded after a dismal showing at the elections.
Mokonyane met with the regional leadership of the ANC in eThekwini last week and the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) led by Siboniso Duma. The extended meeting ended on Sunday.
After the marathon meeting, Mokonyane addressed the media, where she dismissed speculation about the disbandment of the province and eThekwini region structures. "We have not discussed anything that has to do with disbanding our structures," she said.
Disbanding structures after a bruising election where the ANC lost its majority nationally, in Gauteng and KZN, would be a tactical blunder, said Mokonyane.
The post-election assessment is meant to help the limping ANC to regain its lost terrain ahead of the 2026 local government election, which is 17 months away, said Mokonyane, adding, "We embark on this drive as we deal with organisational renewal and rebuild the ANC.“
She conceded that reviving the ANC would require the party to be strong in political education of its members. Mokonyane said despite the gains made by the ANC government since taking the reins from the National Party (NP) in 1994, the party failed to convey its messaging leading to a loss of support effectively.
"We became incoherent due to internal and external factors."
She was confident that the ANC would reclaim its lost turf from former president Jacob Zuma-led Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP).
It was initially thought that during her visit to KZN, Mokonyane would drop the axe on the provincial leadership.
“We had thought that comrade Mokonyane was sent by national leaders to break the news that the provincial structure had been disbanded. But it was not to be. But some frank discussions were held behind closed doors during the meeting about the party’s poor performance during the elections,” said an insider who was not authorised to speak to the media.
Mokonyane was accompanied by National Executive Committee (NEC) members, Dr Zweli Mkhize, Njabulo Nzuza and Sibongile Besani. The NEC is the ANC’s highest authority between conferences.
In KZN, Zuma’s home province, the ANC sank from 54% to 14%, a drop from 44 seats to 14 in the provincial legislature with 80 seats.
The MK Party, the new kid on the block, silenced its critics after scoring 37 seats in the provincial legislature while amassing 58 in the National Assembly with 400, thus becoming the official opposition to the Government of National Unity (GNU) grouping that included the DA and the IFP, among others.
In eThekwini, the ANC's biggest region with 111 branches, the party’s regional chairperson Zandile Gumede has been on step aside since 2021, owing to her alleged involvement in the Durban Solid Waste tender scandal worth R320 million. According to some insiders, this created a leadership vacuum in the region.
Duma told the Independent Media editorial team last week that the party would rope in experts, academics and former leaders of the ANC as the party embarked on a post-election assessment.
Like Mokonyane, Duma was optimistic that the ANC would stun naysayers in the 2026 local government elections. “We will go back to the communities where the ANC did not do well and find out where we went wrong so that we build now for the 2026 local government elections, which are 17 months away,” he said last week.
The provincial ANC secretary, Bheki Mtolo, has slammed reports of the looming disbandment of the province, saying, “Why must we always respond to the allegations that are non-existent every three months about the disbandment of the province which has never happened?”
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