ANC first deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane, has claimed that some people were hell-bent at destroying the struggling ANC from within. She made these remarks during her keynote address at the 113th anniversary January 8 statement celebration at Caluza Sports Ground in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday.
Mokonyane said that in a meeting on Saturday, someone spoke out and said a party member working in the constituency office called them and told them which party to vote for.
“This wasn’t someone who wants to be liked, it’s a community leader who was canvassed by people who work for the ANC... the person who was on your payroll is the one who was running the call centre in the office of the ANC to tell people to vote for the other party... It’s someone we wouldn’t have thought of, but people told us and showed us evidence of messages (SMSes) this person sent,” Mokonyane said.
Although she did not reveal who the ANC official had encouraged people to vote for, the ANC in the province was decimated by the Jacob Zuma-led MK Party.
The ANC provincial executive across the nine provinces hold their January 8 birthday celebration after the party’s official event, which is always addressed by the incumbent party president, in this instance it was president Cyril Ramaphosa. This year’s main event was held in the Western Cape on January 11.
Dissecting the May 29, 2024, elections, Mokonyane said it was unpleasant because the ANC, once a dominant party in the country, did not think it would dip to below 40% nationally. In KZN, the party dropped from 54% to 17%.
This saw the provincial structures of KZN led by Siboniso Duma and Gauteng by Panyaza Lefusi being dragged over the coals, and narrowly dodging the disbandment bullet thanks to Mokonyane who defended the provinces alongside ANC Deputy President Paul Mashatile, among others.
The ANC National Executive Committee (NEC), the highest decision-making authority, instead opted to reconfigure the province.
“As the NEC, we know it didn’t start in 2024, this whole decline started in 2009,” Mokonyane said on Sunday.
She took a subtle jab at Zuma, without mentioning him by name.
“What happened was that a former ANC leader, who knows how we work, worked us from within, saying they are fixing the ANC but it is someone who wanted to destroy the ANC.”
Zuma was expelled from the ANC last year after he endorsed and campaigned for his party, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP).
Scores of ANC supporters attended the event.
She said many people opted not to vote because they were disappointed with the ANC. Therefore, they should engage with people, hear their problems and fix things. So come 2026, people will go out in their numbers and vote for the ANC.
Mokonyane reiterated that the party took a knock in May last year and while they were unhappy about the results, they were a visionary organisation that does not sit back.
“We used our 40% to call others who wanted to work with us,” Mokonyane said.
“That is why in KZN there is a Government of Provincial Unity. That’s why nationally, there’s the Government of National Unity.
“Out of that setback, we were able to regroup and set up a Government of National Unity,” Mokonyane stated.
Mokonyane said bigger things were yet to come.
“Those who broke away from the ANC and beat us on May 29, we are mopping the floor with them now in these by-elections.
“The reason being, we licked our wounds and wiped our tears. We went to the people and asked them what kind of candidate they needed as a ward councillor. We adhered to the people’s will, which is how we won these by-elections,” Mokonyane said.
She said they will not let the ANC crumble. Instead, they will renovate, rebuild, reunite and charge forward.
Mokonyane added that ANC members have to work together.
“All of us must be accountable. Not only those in government, including members of the National Executive Committee (NEC).”
She said it was not possible to lead in the ANC and ‘not be part of a community that you come from’.
“This is one of the things that has been a weakness because a lot of times we act assuming we understand people’s problems because we are not amongst them. Therefore, you can’t lead them if you don’t love them and you can’t lead them if you don’t understand their issues.”
Durban-based political analyst Thobani Zikalala has repeatedly said the ANC would fail to stave-off the electoral decline because it had “mis-diagnosed” the problem.
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