Mbalula: ANC plans complete overhaul in KZN as deployed members 'squabble over leadership'

The African National Congress (ANC) has described its intervention at its KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) branch as a "big disappointment," citing that the members it deployed to stabilise the province have instead been squabbling over leadership positions.

Earlier this year, the ANC reconfigured its provincial leadership following a spectacular electoral decline in last year’s general elections. Part of this reconfiguration involved establishing a Task Team and deploying experienced members to oversee the branch's operations.

However, speaking at a media briefing in Boksburg on Wednesday, ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula announced the party is planning another complete overhaul of its KZN leadership.

Mbalula stated that the members tasked with stabilising the province have abandoned their mandate for internal disputes:

“In KZN we disbanded a structure because we are facing an existential crisis there, a tsunami. What did the people do which we have given them a task? They are fighting [over] who must lead, not the task we gave them. We will put them aside.”

“We are going to fetch people who are going to build the ANC in KZN, root and branch. Not people who are concerned about who must lead and all of that and just leave and abandon the task. So it’s a big disappointment for the ANC.”

The comments underscore the party's frustration with the lack of progress in its efforts to address the internal divisions and electoral losses that have plagued the KZN province.