ANC National Executive Committee member and National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza, is part of the new KZN ANC task team.
Image: Willem Phungula
The national ANC leadership has included former KwaZulu-Natal leaders in its downsized task team, in a move to deal with the lack of demographic representation in the disbanded provincial executive committee.
Former eThekwini Speaker Logie Naidoo, former MECs Ravi Pillay and Maggie Govender and former eThekwini City manager Mike Sutcliffe have been appointed to the new structure.
The 30-member task team was unveiled by the party’s Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula on Wednesday - the additional members will join the provincial top six,unveiled two weeks ago by Mbalula and led by Mike Mabuyakhulu and James Nxumalo.
Naidoo said he is happy that comrades 'that were left out in the previous structure were considered and included in the new structure'.
The 2022 provincial elective conference received criticism for failing to ensure demographic representation.
Sutcliffe, with his vast experience in local government administration, is regarded as a local government expert. He was included in the Presidential Working Group that was established to fix eThekwini's administrative challenges and is currently doing the same in the embattled Msunduzi Local Municipality.
Also included in the team are National Executive Committee (NEC) members from the province such as National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza.
Speaking to the media, the ANC’s first deputy Secretary-General Nomvula Mokonyane cited the size of the previous task team as a reason for it failing to perform.
She avoided a direct question on whether the previous team under Jeff Radebe failed to fulfil its mandate, saying instead that its term of office had expired.
“We are assisting the provincial and regional structures to take the ANC into local government victory, that is why we are beefing up the structure with NEC members to oversee and work together with the provincial structure. This is a national programme. We have already appointed the provincial working committee and head of elections,” said Mokonyane.
The party also unveiled former Legislature member Sifiso Sonjica as the new provincial spokesperson, replacing Fanle Sibisi. The party also added former Legislature member Bishop Vusi Dube to the task team, to cater for the religious sector.
On Thursday, the ANC is expected to unveil the new task team from all the 11 regions in the province and this will be followed by an induction and workshop to outline the local government elections strategies.
On Radebe’s new role, Monkonyane said his redeployment would be discussed and finalised at the NEC’s next meeting, however, she confirmed that he no longer has a role in the province.
Although he was born and raised in KZN, Radebe did not hold a position in the provincial executive committee after the first democratic election in 1994.
He was a chairperson of the then Southern Natal region and was one of the longest serving Ministers in government.
willem.phungula@inl.co.za