Africa-Press – South-Africa. Zweli Mkhize is not just a KwaZulu-Natal leader and is supported in ANC structures across the country.
This is according KwaZulu-Natal ANC secretary Bheki Mtolo, who welcomed the endorsement of the embattled former minister by the ANC Youth League as its preferred presidential candidate over the weekend.
He said the vote of confidence demonstrated not only Mkhize’s national appeal, but showed that the youth had faith in him taking the country forward.
In September, the ANC’s provincial executive committee (PEC) publicly endorsed Mkhize as its preferred candidate to go up against President Cyril Ramaphosa for the presidency of the party.
Addressing the media on Tuesday morning following the PEC meeting, Mtolo said there had been a concerted attempt to “reduce Zweli Mkhize to being a leader of KZN”.
He said:
Mtolo was quick to add that Mkhize had been serving on the party’s national executive committee since 2002.
“They [those allegedly reducing Mkhize to being a provincial leader] forget that Mkhize was elected into the ANC NEC in 2002, and he has been serving in that NEC since 2002.
“When Mkhize was elected the deputy chairperson for KZN, he was also directly elected as a member of the NEC. He has been serving in that NEC since 2002. He has been there as a national leader. That is why he has got contacts and respect from various provinces, because they know him as a national leader.”
Mtolo added that it was, therefore significant that the first “official endorsement” had come from the Youth League, before the province made its pronouncement after the results of the branch general meetings were made public on Thursday.
He said the significance of the endorsement was that, “in taking this decision, it was not only the ANC Youth League’s task team” that made the pronouncement, but “that all the national structures of the Youth League were in that meeting”.
“It was a lie that it was just the national youth task team. I was [at] the task team and the provinces, and they all voted in a secret ballot, and were not intimidated to make that decision. He [Mkhize] still came out number one,” said Mtolo.
He said he was sure that when former president Kgalema Motlanthe came to unseal the ballot boxes from all the provincial branches on Thursday, and announce those who had received the most votes, Mkhize would emerge on top.
He added:
“So, when we see people posting on Twitter that they have been nominated, we can immediately tell that they are mad, because we know the outcome… these guys who keep rushing to Twitter and say they have been voted for when they haven’t will be surprised,” said Mtolo.
He cautioned that, despite the fierce internal contestation, members should make sure that their conduct did not “cut the ANC in two, leading up to the conference”.
“We should remember that there should be an ANC come… the end of the elective period. So our internal contestation should not bring the party into such disrepute that we don’t have a party to go back to after the conference.”
The provincial ANC also announced the beefing up of its integrity commission with additional members.
Party veteran Sipho Magwaza will continue as provincial chairperson of the ANC’s integrity commission and will be assisted by, among others, former KZN premier Willies Mchunu.
The PEC also introduced a provincial elections team, led by Mtolo, to monitor elections and the coalitions that may emerge. It would also take responsibility for reporting any alleged incidents of fraud by the IFP and DA where they governed.
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