KZN ANC members lash out at Magashule over “dividing” the party

A group of African National Congress (ANC) members have lashed out at the party’s Secretary-General Ace Magashule. The group picketed outside the ANC provincial headquarters in Durban on Monday.  They say Magashule is dividing the ANC.

Their accusations stem from statements Magashule made in Pietermaritzburg on Sunday.

In his remarks, the ANC Secretary-General said, “Stay focused, it is just a matter of five years. It’s a matter of five years. Conference happens after five years. Mayibuya i-ANC esiyaziyo (when the ANC that we know returns). It’s a matter of five years comrades. So let’s work hard.”

The statement has angered the members. They say it insinuates that the current ANC is not the right one. The members also complained about Magashule’s reference to the McDonald’s fast food chain. “We are encouraging healthy lifestyles, don’t eat McDonalds because nizotyeba (meaning you will get fat,” he said.

Ramaphosa is a licensee of the McDonald’s operations in South Africa.  The group wearing T-shirts supporting Ramaphosa rejected the newly-announced provincial interim structure. They say it is skewed towards the suspended Provincial Executive Committee. The members want the structure to be reconstituted.

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The Co-ordinator of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, Sihle Zikalala on Sunday called on all party members in the province to unite behind the elected national leadership lead by president Cyril Ramaphosa.

Addressing an ANC Youth League rally held in Pietermaritzburg, Zikalala says in the ANC they can have their own views, but after a conference they all unite.

“It is a matter of fact that there is one President of the ANC and that is Cyril Ramaphosa and we all have to unite behind that leadership. We have grown up in the ANC knowing that we can have our own views, but once the conference of the ANC takes place, all of us must unite behind the elected leadership of the ANC we embrace the leadership in totality.”