Former KwaZulu-Natal director general Nhlanhla Ngidi has put up his hand to contest the chairperson’s position when the party holds its provincial conference in July.
This comes after allies of the incumbent, Sihle Zikalala, lost control of the Musa Dladla region in the north of the province to the so-called radical economic transformation faction (RET), which will oppose the re-election of Zikalala and, at the ANC’s national conference in December, president Cyril Ramaphosa.
The RET faction is yet to decide who it will field to challenge Zikalala — eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda and finance MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube are the current frontrunners — and the introduction of Ngidi as a candidate will serve to further decrease his hopes of re-election.
Last weekend, Musa Cebekhulu was elected as regional chair of Musa Dladla in surprise victory over Zikalala ally Mduduzi Mhlongo and Thembeka Mchunu, the wife of Ramaphosa’s most powerful ally from KwaZulu-Natal, Senzo Mchunu.
Cebekhulu was nominated from the floor — surprising some — taking away a considerable chunk of Mhlongo’s votes to win the conference and securing the region for the RET grouping, which is backing disgraced former health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize as ANC president.
Now, with Ramaphosa’s support wavering, Ngidi has entered the race for chair, punting an alternative to both slates to the party’s branches, which will hold branch general meetings next month to nominate their candidate for chairperson and the rest of the provincial executive committee.
Ngidi hopes to stand on a non-aligned ticket, taking on support from both factions, the ANC’s alliance partners and its leagues.
Currently a special adviser to Zikalala, Ngidi hopes that his “third way” approach will catch on with ANC members who are tired of the trench warfare between the factions and aims to get the endorsement of 25% of the province’s branches before the conference, rather than trying to secure nomination from the floor.
In an interview with the Mail & Guardian, Ngidi said he had decided to stand because of the ANC’s “disastrous” showing in last November’s local government elections and after being approached by party members who believed a new leadership not aligned to either faction was needed.
Ngidi said he and his prospective “line-up” had decided not to take a stance on whether Ramaphosa should serve a second term because this would automatically identify them with one or another of the factions.
None of the other frontrunners for chair had expressed an opinion, while Ngidi would only do so as part of a collective provincial leadership decision after the conference.
“If I say there should be a second term for the president then I’m identified with CR22. If I say no second term, I’m identified with RET. That messes up everything,” he said.
“I think there are more serious issues at hand, than the issue of the president having or not having a second term. The province for three years running has been moving from one disaster to another: Covid-19 in 2020; looting in 2021; floods in 2022. One of the things that has become very clear is the economic disparity between residents of this province.”
Ngidi believes his refusal to get involved in party factionalism while serving as director general, and the reputation he has built in the party on a variety of levels, will make him an attractive choice as chairperson, as will his understanding of government from having acted as both a senior civil servant and an MP.
“I don’t fit into any faction. Whatever I do, everybody understands it from a neutral point of view. I decided not to identify with any faction because I looked at both and I didn’t like what I saw,” he said, adding that a victory for an “inclusive” slate was possible, and the only way to save the ANC from itself.
“If we are going to unite the ANC, it must be on the conference floor. You can’t go into a conference, win on a particular slate and hope to unite thereafter. It is on the conference floor that the first step of uniting the ANC will take place,” he said.
While Ngidi is attempting to overcome the factionialsin in the party, the highly factionalised outcome in Musa Dladla region will have an effect on what happens at both the provincial and national conferences, and on the futures of some of the president’s allies.
With 105 branches, the region in the Richards Bay area is one of the largest in the province, second to eThekwini with 111 branches. The third largest region is Mzala Nxumalo with 95 branches.
According to insiders, the decision by the RET faction to dump Mhlongo as a candidate for chairperson was because of his close proximity to Zikalala and Ntuli. Things nearly went wrong when the 74 delegates who still proceeded to vote for him went on to reject those aligned to Mkhize in the lineup for deputy chair and secretary.
“Our guys entered into an agreement with Mhlongo, to retain him, but when it became clear that he was not aligned to their view around Mkhize, and that he is aligned to Sihle and Mdumiseni for a second term, they decided to dump him and nominate the guy who was originally meant to deputise him from the floor instead, as most of the branch general meetings had already sat,” one insider said.
The election of Cebekhulu in Mchunu’s backyard will be cause for concern for the president’s KwaZulu-Natal ally, and for Nathi Mthethwa, another Ramaphosa loyalist.
Talk has been centred on the president and deputy president positions at the December conference but there is also speculation that Mchunu will again make a bid for secretary general. He narrowly lost against the now suspended secretary general, Ace Magashule, at the 2017 Nasrec conference. Without the backing of the province or his home region, Mchunu’s hopes are doubtful.
A Mkhize lobbyist told the Mail & Guardian that the Musa Dladla regional conference was important to its strategy of dislodging the Ramaphosa faction nationally.
“Mchunu has been seen as the kingpin of the Ramaphosa campaign. The Musa Dlala regional conference delivers a message that Mchunu is inconsequential when it comes to KwaZulu-Natal as a whole because he is inconsequential in his own home region.”
The loss of Mzala Nxumalo by the president’s faction is also seen as a blow to Mchunu, whose influence is significant in the region that includes Nongoma and Ulundi. Another Ramaphosa lieutenant left bruised from the KwaZulu-Natal regional conference cycle was Police Minister Bheki Cele.
Cele, who was once the eThekwini regional chair, and his allies were unable to clinch victory against corruption-accused former mayor Zandile Gumede at the April eThekwini regional conference. His influence in the Lower South Coast, where he is from, also appears to have waned, with his allies losing it to the RET faction at the regional conference earlier this year.
KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli, whose return to the top five in the province hangs in the balance, was also unable to bring home a win for the Ramaphosa camp in his home region of eThekwini.
Although eThekwini regional leaders were frustrated with Ntuli, they nevertheless decided to support him as deputy chair when the province holds its conference.
One insider said KwaZulu-Natal regional leaders have agreed not to “speak about someone who is not from their region, either for or against”.
Ramaphosa’s KwaZulu-Natal allies in the national executive committee have failed to deliver but those in the Eastern Cape — including Enoch Godongwana, Mondli Gungubele and, to some degree, Gwede Mantashe — have delivered on their mission to bring the province into the fold.
Oscar Mabuyane, who quickly endorsed Ramaphosa for a second term during his closing address at the Eastern Cape provincial conference, was elected chair for a second term earlier this month.
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