Former African National Congress (ANC) KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Secretary, Mdumiseni Ntuli, says the party’s renewal program must be intensified immediately after the 55th National Conference of the party in December.
He says as the national liberation movement, the ANC always has its finger on the pulse of society to mobilise and organise the different sectors of society.
Ntuli has been nominated to be the next Secretary-General of the ANC.
He has accepted the nomination and he will be up against National Executive Committee (NEC) members Phumulo Masualle, Malusi Gigaba and Fikile Mbalula, among others.
Ntuli spoke exclusively to the SABC News on Thursday evening.
“The ANC also has a responsibility to ensure that as a governing party, we govern efficiently and effectively. We have the capacity to generate ideas, to research so as to produce new knowledge, but not only to monitor and evaluate what happens in government, but equally the head office of the ANC must be a centre that provides guidance and direction.”
“I will work well with the next president”
Ntuli says if elected to the position of Secretary-General of the ANC, he will be able to work with whoever takes over as the new president of the party.
This as many have raised their hands for the position of president, including ANC NEC members Dr Zweli Mkhize and Lindiwe Sisulu; with the incumbent, Cyril Ramaphosa, having been nominated by the majority of provinces in the country.
“I do not have a particular person that I am saying will have to be the one that is elected. Anyone that the majority of ANC branches elect in that conference and elects together with me, I can work with that comrade and complement each to ensure that we deal with the challenges facing the movement. If it happens a comrade has his or her own challenges, I think now the ANC has sufficient guidelines and rules to regulate how to deal with circumstances where there are individual circumstances that are impacting on the leadership role of any of us.”
July unrest
Ntuli has admitted that if the ANC as a governing party that exists in society had campaigned against the July 2021 unrest in KwaZulu-Natal(KZN), the looting incidents following the incarceration of former President Jacob Zuma could have been avoided.
He told SABC News Reporter, Samkele Maseko, that the ANC failed to intervene and make sure that society is mobilised against what happened in KZN and some parts of Gauteng, leading to the deaths of more than 300 people.
Ntuli was responding to the dominant view that the ANC leadership in KZN at the time was nowhere to be found, yet the province was in flames, with looting taking place at every corner.
He says that this needed a proper campaign that would have taken the people away from what they were engaging in.
“What happened in July and the manner in which it happened would have been easily avoidable in terms of the ANC as a campaigning organisation, intervening to mobilise society away from what was obviously very destructive elements that were intending to undermine the economy and undermine social cohesion in our province, let alone that it resulted into the killing of almost 400 people in the province.”
In the video below, Ntuli outlines his strategy if he is elected as the ruling party’s new Secretary-General:
