Durban - The provincial spokesperson of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has called on party members in the province to “disabuse themselves of the notion that the province must be guaranteed” a Top Six position in the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
This as branch members are expected to start the nomination process for NEC members on September 7 and ahead of the December elective conference.
The NEC is the party’s highest decision making body and at the Nasrec elective conference in 2017, no KZN representative was included in the top structure – this was the first time that this has happened since the advent of democracy.
For some in the province, this was a source of discontent as the province is powerful in terms of membership numbers and influence with other provinces.
ANC KZN spokesperson Mafika Mndebele said not having a representative in the top structure of the NEC was not a big blow or a setback.
“There are nine provinces and not all can be accommodated,” he said.
The current NEC consists of President Cyril Ramaphosa, Deputy President David Mabuza, chairperson Gwede Mantashe, Treasurer Paul Mashatile, suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule.
Jessie Duarte, who passed away in July, was the deputy secretary-general.
Mndebele said the Provincial Executive Committee would hold a special meeting soon and make a pronouncement on the voting process for NEC members.
“Our intention is to unite KZN and we will not be rushing into who should be part of the NEC, or not.
“The PEC wants to canvass the views of everyone before it makes any announcement,” he said.
In July, a day after he was elected the party’s provincial chairperson, Sboniso Duma said he wanted to make it clear that the ANC is a national organisation and that will be a factor before the December conference.
“The ANC is one and it is a national organisation. It is always that as a province we want to select, identify and deploy one of our own. We are going to ensure that we identify among us a comrade that will play a potential role in the Top Six in the ANC nationally,” Duma had said.