Durban – Former KwaZulu-Natal ANC provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli said he was prepared to work with Dr Zweli Mkhize if he gets elected to the secretary-general’s position at the party’s upcoming conference.
Ntuli’s lobbyist Sabelo Sigudu said the former provincial secretary wants to destroy slate politics and very much focus on the party’s renewal project and would not have a problem working with Mkhize or anyone else, including Cyril Ramaphosa, elected as president at the conference.
Sigudu said Ntuli was confident when he had received enough nominations in the province to become the provincial nominee and not Masuale, which the province had announced backing him. He said after seeing that he was the favourite in other provinces, the delegates from KwaZulu-Natal would change their minds and vote for Ntuli instead of Masuale and Fikile Mbalula.
Ntuli is likely to be endorsed by the Free State, if the faction led by Thabo Manyoni and Paseka Nompondo, wins the provincial conference which is expected to sit next week. Sigudu said Ntuli has a good relationship with both Manyoni and Nompondo who is the co-ordinator of the interim provincial committee.
Manyoni was said to be leading in the chairperson’s nominations. Ntuli was dumped by the Ramaphosa faction which opted for Mbalula instead of him, but he insisted that he would still contest the party’s leadership if the branches nominate him.
“We are just waiting for the provincial general council to announce the branches’ preferred top six and we are confident that many branches in KwaZulu-Natal chose Ntuli over other candidates for the secretary-general’s position. He has made it clear that he was prepared to work with Mkhize, if he wins at the conference,” said Sigudu.
Ntuli met with provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo last week in what was described as extending an olive branch to him by the province, after snubbing him when it opted to back former Eastern Cape chairperson Phumulo Masuale to work with Mkhze.
ANC provincial spokesperson Mafika Mndebele confirmed that Ntuli and Mtolo met and discussed the upcoming conference. He said the meeting came after the provincial executive committee took a decision that all candidates from the province must be called by the secretary to hear their position, and what they stand for. There are rumours that branches would vote both for Mkhize and Ntuli to ensure that at least there was a leader from the province in the position.