eNCA | Fury at ANC officials after KZN conference is cancelled
DURBAN – The much-punted “unity” being sought by the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) was absent on Friday night as furious members heckled and booed senior party officials while the latter was to explain why the provincial conference was cancelled.
The province was set to re-run its eighth conference from Friday to Sunday at the University of Zululand to elect a new leadership.
But, the granting of an urgent interdict by the High Court in Pietermaritzburg just after 6 pm on Friday evening saw chaos descend on the troubled province.
Unhappy delegates, who had been registering at the time the court’s decision was made known, gathered at the university’s Bhekuzulu Hall looking for answers when word started trickling in that the conference would be changed to a “consultative” one.
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But the delegates scuppered their own search for clarity when they refused to allow ANC chairman Gwede Mantashe to speak. Instead, they started singing songs questioning the party’s attitude to former president Jacob Zuma and accused Mantashe of belonging to the faction that brought the application for the interdict.
#ANCKZN @sziks intervenes in trying to get ANC members to let @GwedeMantashe1 National Chairperson of the ANC to speak. pic.twitter.com/rdDQfNwdjJ
— Samkele Maseko (@samkelemaseko) June 8, 2018
“If this is an ANC meeting, I will speak here tonight. If it is a factional meeting, I will not speak. Regional chairpersons must talk to their delegates. I am going to speak here tonight,” Mantashe told the unhappy delegates. He was supposed to deliver the keynote address at the conference before it was cancelled.
Before Mantashe took to the podium, ANC provincial co-ordinator Sihle Zikalala told delegates the conference would now become a consultative one that would discuss ANC resolutions taken at the Nasrec national conference and the 2019 national elections.
Zikalala introduced national executive committee (NEC) members present, but the crowd booed when Mantashe, Bheki Cele, and Jackson Mthembu’s names were mentioned. Mantashe was determined to speak, but the delegates would have none of it, only responding to Zikalala.
Mantashe even took to his verified Twitter account to vent his frustration. “An ANC meeting here is disrupted by a minority. When you speak, Cde Sihle Zikalala, they stop. They have an impression that they are your faction, they are not,” he tweeted.
An ANC meeting here, is disrupted by a minority. When you speak Cde Sihle Zikalala, they stop. They have an impression that they are your faction, and they are not. #ANCKZN
— Gwede Mantashe (@GwedeMantashe1) June 8, 2018
The meeting was eventually cancelled as delegates started leaving. It is set to resume on Saturday morning, but no programme has yet been made available.
African News Agency