Left to right, Sihle Zikalala , the ANC’s Provincial chairperson in 2017, Nkosazana Dlamini, an ANC presidential candidate in 2017 and then Premier of KZN Willies Mchunu at the closing of the two days ANC KwaZulu-Natal Provincial General Council on December 5, 2017, at Olive Convention Centre, Durban. – Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng / Independent Newspapers

By Bheki Mngomezulu

The recent decision by Former KZN Premier Willies Mchunu to resign from the ANC left many people tongue-tied. Some are still recovering from that shock accompanied by disbelief. Mchunu’s decision exposed the political immaturity of the KZN leadership.

Firstly, some assumed that as one of the senior and long-serving members of the ANC and the SACP, Mchunu would never ditch his organisation. Instead, he would participate in its renewal agenda – both real and imagined!

Secondly, there was an unfounded belief that Former President Thabo Mbeki's activities to revive hope about the ANC would inspire other veterans like Mchunu to rally behind Mbeki and instil hope in both members and leaders of the ANC.

Thirdly, there was also a wrong belief that members of the ANC and its Alliance partners would give the multiparty coalition (referred to by some as the GNU at the national level and GPU at the provincial level) a chance to take the country forward.

By definition, a GNU comprises major political parties. With the third-placed MKP not part of the coalition, it would never be a GNU but a multiparty coalition.

While all these views were plausible at the time, they ignored the fact that the ANC was bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. Unfortunately, instead of self-correcting as the party has done over many decades even under trying times, its current leadership at national and provincial levels lacks the necessary leadership prowess to propel the ANC to the stratosphere and to revive its former glory and dignity.

Anyone who cares to do a cogent analysis of how Mchunu arrived at his decision would not be surprised by it. This was bound to happen; it was only a matter of time.

Before penning his resignation letter, Mchunu expressed his views openly about the mistakes the ANC had made before and after the May 2024 general election. Soon after the disastrous election for the ANC, Mchunu was vocal arguing against the party’s decision to gang up with other political parties to ostracise the MKP.

This was the time for the ANC and the Alliance to demonstrate astute and visionary leadership. Instead of being fixated on the present the party’s leadership should have cast its eyes into the future after reading the political mood in the country.

Instead of listening to Mchunu’s concerns with an objective mind, both the ANC and the SACP opted to be dismissive of his concerns – to their own detriment!

Such a response demonstrated weaknesses in the ANC’s provincial leadership. Drawing lessons from the results of the 2019 general election and the 2021 Local Government Election (LGE), one would have expected the provincial leadership to take Mchunu’s concerns seriously. His resignation could have been averted.

When Mchunu realised that he could not be given any audience by his comrades, he concluded that it was time for him to quit.

Mchunu’s decision was not only a sad moment for the ANC and its Alliance partners. It was also an indictment on the ANC’s provincial leadership. Had it listened to him, it would have been able to articulate his views at national gatherings thus saving the ANC from accusations of colluding with smaller political parties to frustrate the MKP.

Irrefutably, leadership concerns in the ANC start at Luthuli House. Failure by the national leadership to provide astute leadership has cascaded down to provinces. Inevitably, the local sphere of government too cannot be insulated either.

The ANC’s KZN leadership missed an opportunity to be the voice of reason by not listening to or supporting Mchunu. At the national level, the ANC negotiated with other political parties because it had the highest number of votes although it did not win the election.

Flowing from the discussion above, it is safe to submit that the ANC leadership in KZN squandered an opportunity to shine. While the ANC obtained 40% of the national vote, the MKP obtained 45%. It did not make sense that the IFP, which obtained a mere 18% could produce a Premier with the support of the ANC, DA and other smaller parties.

If the ANC leadership in KZN was strong and had a vision about the province, it would have advised its national leadership to stay clear of KZN where the electorate had given their support to the MKP. Focusing on provinces like Limpopo and the Eastern Cape where the ANC had an outright majority would have made sense, but not what eventually happened in KZN. The provincial coalition government undermined the democratic voice of the people of KZN.

The argument that the MKP is to blame for what eventually happened cannot be sustained. As we can recall, the stance taken by the MKP not to participate in coalition talks was triggered by the fact that it (together with 25 other political parties) had already submitted the Section 55 forms in which they raised concerns about the election results.

Instead of hearing these concerns and delaying the announcement of the election results until Wednesday, June 5 – which would have not been in contravention of the Constitution and the Electoral Act, the IEC decided to proceed with the announcement of the results on June 2, 2024.

Therefore, it is correct to advance the argument that the IEC cannot be exonerated from the injustice that happened to the MKP in KZN.

To protect the integrity of the election, the IEC’s public image, and the name of the ANC, the KZN ANC leadership should have taken a stance not to agree to work with smaller parties to constitute the provincial government.

The formation of the MKP was because of poor national leadership in the ANC which failed to read the political rhythm. The recent resignation by Mchunu is because of the KZN provincial leadership’s adroitness deficit and its failure to read the political mood in the province.

Jacob Zuma and Willies Mchunu have exposed weaknesses in the ANC nationally and in KZN.

* Prof Bheki Mngomezulu is Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Non-Racialism and Democracy (CANRAD) at the Nelson Mandela University.

** The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The African