The incoming chair of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal calmed down thousands of singing, booing and jeering party members ahead of Cyril Ramaphosa’s address on the last day of the provincial elective conference on Sunday, allowing the president to deliver his speech uninterrupted.
The appeal by Siboniso Duma, who replaces Sihle Zikalala as the most powerful ANC member in the province — that packs huge voting power in ANC internal national elections, came shortly after more than 2,000 delegates sang and chanted pro-Zuma songs as Ramaphosa entered the conference venue in what could have set the stage for a rare public humiliation of the president.
His calls for order allowed Ramaphosa to finish his speech, which did not acknowledge the chants in support of former president Jacob Zuma, but rather pledged to work with the newly elected provincial leadership.
The conference saw the ousting of KwaZulu-Natal premier Zikalala as the ANC’s chair and his replacement by Duma, a move that could signal a major setback for Ramaphosa, who is expected to seek a second term as party president during the ANC national internal leadership contest in December.
With over 200,000 members, the province is the ANC’s largest in terms of membership and its support is crucial for any candidate contesting for one of the national top six positions.
The delegates concluded the three-day conference on Sunday, chanting songs in support of Zuma — a known Ramaphosa adversary — including Wenzeni uZuma? (What did Zuma do?).
“We are not happy with how the judicial system in SA is,” said Duma as he acknowledged the crowd’s pro-Zuma chants, following which he called for the members to be disciplined to allow Ramaphosa to address the proceedings.
The hostility by ANC members towards Ramaphosa in KwaZulu-Natal stems from the imprisonment of Zuma in July 2021 after the Constitutional Court ordered that he serve a
15-month jail term for failing to testify at the state capture commission of inquiry, according to various ANC provincial leaders.
Endorsements
Though Zweli Mkhize has not publicly announced that he will be contesting Ramaphosa for the ANC’s top position, the former health minister who resigned in 2021 in the wake of corruption allegations against him, has received endorsements to replace Ramaphosa from nine of the 11 regions in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mkhize, who was present on the last two days of the proceedings, declined to comment on his presidential ambitions.
Indications that Ramaphosa was unlikely to be warmly received by party members surfaced on the first day of the conference where delegates chanted Wenzeni uZuma before Ramaphosa ally and deputy president hopeful Paul Mashatile began his opening address on behalf of the ANC national executive committee on Friday.
This prompted reports on Sunday morning that Ramaphosa would not attend the conference as he has done in other provinces, where he has received endorsements for a second term. Recently elected ANC chairs in the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, the Northern Cape and Gauteng have all indicated that they would rally behind Ramaphosa’s second term. This endorsement has, however, not yet been signed off by the branches.
In his brief acceptance speech, Duma appeared to shut down speculation that his win spells doom for Ramaphosa, saying “the ANC is in a unitary organisation and is part and parcel of SA, so we have one common president, Cyril Ramaphosa”.
Political analyst Protas Madlala said the win was definitely not good news for the ANC.
“The ANC is still a divided house in KZN no matter what is said. Not much is known of Duma but the rest [of] the top executive is a case of recycling the old,” said Madlala.
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