ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula warned that some party members had taken the decision to defect to Zuma’s party but were waiting in the ANC before making their move. Picture: Timothy Bernard/Independent Newspapers
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal said there was a worrying trend in the province where some ANC members continued to represent the party but were sympathetic to former President Jacob Zuma and his uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP).
The party was responding to secretary general Fikile Mbalula who this week warned that some party members had taken the decision to defect to Zuma’s party but were waiting in the ANC before making their move.
“We are aware this defection to Jacob Zuma is staggered and well planned.
“All we are looking at is how long it will take. They (MKP) are recruiting inside the ANC, among others, but some of them have long made up their minds; they have long been with Zuma. You see them on social media,” Mbalula said.
There was a dramatic swing of votes away from the ANC and towards the MKP in the May 29 national elections, with the ANC getting 17% and Zuma’s party 45% in KZN.
Provincial ANC spokesperson Mafika Mndebele accused party members who are sympathetic to the MKP of presenting an “intellectually challenged debate” on why it should have formed a coalition with Zuma’s party instead of the DA.
“Both the MKP and the DA are enemies of social transformation but the DA is a strategic opponent.
“It is a tactical alliance with both parties saying there is a need for the Constitution, although we might interpret it differently.”
Mndebele said the MKP constitutes an immediate threat to the ANC and ‘we can’t form a coalition with such a threat’.
He said the survival of the party now depends on its ability to recruit new members.
“We are setting up structures to perform audits at all branches, putting in place organisers to recruit and a political education structure.
“We cannot continue to worry about people who want to leave but we need to live up to the values of our party,” Mndebele said.
An ANC source said the party was concerned about the significant inroads that the MKP had made in eThekwini and Msunduzi - economic hubs of the province and been seen as strongholds of the party.
“This is not new and started in 2016 where ANC members contested as independents because they did not emerge as candidates.
“In the last election the MKP beat the ANC in almost every ward in eThekwini, even at the voting district level you could see the shift,” said the source.
MKP national spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said Mbalula’s criticism “revealed the psyche of the ANC, which has gone into shock and panic mode”.
“The GNU is the cancer of the ANC and they either get rid of the root cause or it is going to be the end of the party.
“This dichotomy in the policy positions of the GNU parties is not sustainable in the lead up to the 2026 local government elections,” Ndhlela said.
Political analyst Professor Bheki Mngomezulu said the ANC should be concerned about loss of membership.
The Mercury