Amid claims of tension within GPU, chairman says ANC KZN ‘absolutely not working’ with MK party

The African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal has denied allegations of tensions within the state unity government (GPU) in the province.

The party leadership spoke to the media on Monday, explaining its relationship with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) and how these partnerships affect the GPU.

Provincial chairman Siboniso Duma said the ANC and IFP maintained a positive working relationship in the province, with the exception of Thulasizwe Buthelezi.

The relationship between the KZN ANC and Buthelezi, who also served as Zulu premier, has always been tense and often public.

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“We work well with all our GPU partners, but there are some people within these parties who cannot be controlled,” Duma said.

“We see no reason for the current GPU setup to crash. In fact, we believe that we will finish the period. There is no voltage on the GPU. We have a good relationship with the IFP leadership, apart from Thulasizwe (Buthelezi).

“The tension with the DA is ideological, it will always be there because we are at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of ideologies, but that doesn’t mean we can’t work together.”

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“We are definitely not working with the MK party,” added deputy leader Nomagugu Simelane.

‘We will comply fully’

The party’s secretary, Bheki Mtolo, also dismissed reports that the ANC national executive committee (NEC) was planning to disband the KZN provincial executive committee (PEC) due to poor election results.

He said no such discussions had taken place but confirmed that if the NEC decided to disband, the province would fully comply.

“The NEC of the ANC is the highest body between the conferences and has the obligation to lead the entire organization for the five-year period,” Mtolo said.

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“The NEC, of ​​which I and the chairman are a part, can, in its wisdom, take any decision at any time regarding the functionality of its structures.

“I can assure you that these are true and loyal members of the ANC, once the decision of the NEC is made, all ANC members and structures in KZN will abide by the decision of the NEC because we are under its command. from NEC.

“Whenever this decision comes, we will abide by it as loyal members of the ANC. None of us belong to a branch here. We will return to our branches and be active there and implement the bottom-up approach. The impression has been created that KZN should be an island that the NEC cannot and cannot touch.”

‘Ramaphosa supports KZN ANC’

Duma added that the issue was not on the agenda of last week’s NEC meeting.

“This is a summary that we do not have that the NEC will discuss the dissolution of KZN PEC. If you know the tradition of the ANC, we don’t usually hold the NEC in December anyway, so where does this come from?

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“President Cyril Ramaphosa and the top seven leaders actually support this structure. Even in the last NEC meeting, this issue was not even brought up, so it only exists in people’s minds.”