Shrugging off criticism from provincial leaders that he was looking to rule from the grave, former KwaZulu-Natal premier Senzo Mchunu says he will not refrain from speaking out on problems facing the ANC.
Mchunu was ousted as ANC provincial chairperson by Sihle Zikalala in the November 2015 provincial elective conference, the outcome of which is being contested in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
He came under fire from ANC provincial leaders after addressing the 30th anniversary celebrations of the National Education and Allied Workers Union in Pietermaritzburg on Friday night. In his speech, Mchunu attacked President Jacob Zuma for the current malaise in the ANC and in government, saying he had presided over state capture by allowing his friends, the Guptas, and his family members to loot the state institutions.
Mchunu has been one of the most vocal campaigners for deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed Zuma during the ANC’s upcoming elective conference in December.
Speaking on Tuesday, he said he was among those who fought Zuma succeeding former president Thabo Mbeki in 2007, and that he did this on principle. He said it was an ANC tradition that the party president was succeeded by his deputy and criticised Zuma for wanting to be succeeded by his ex-wife, saying such leaders are the ones who want to rule long after they have left office.
ANC leaders in KwaZulu-Natal had previously accused Mchunu of seeking "attention" and relevance by attacking party leaders in public rather than engaging them through ANC structures. But Mchunu said discussing issues affecting the ANC was not an attack on individuals, and that there was a difference between talking about Zuma as an individual and the challenges the ANC is facing.
"When we talk about those challenges, we are not looking at Jacob Zuma, we are looking at those particular problems. We are not saying what we are saying via Jacob Zuma; we are there on our own. We are leaders in our own right. It is another thing if that individual associates themselves with the problems, [then] we can’t save them."
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