ANC announces Nomusa Dube-Ncube as KZN premier candidate

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has chosen provincial Finance MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube as their premier candidate, following the resignation of Sihle Zikalala last week.

The ANC made the announcement on Monday morning, during a media briefing in Durban.

Zikalala stepped down from office last Friday, after three years in the post. His resignation was prompted by his loss of the ANC provincial chairperson position to Siboniso Duma at the KZN ANC’s 9th provincial conference in July.

Zikalala also failed to make it into the ANC’s provincial executive committee (PEC).

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ANC provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo said Dube-Ncube was chosen for the job due to her seniority and experience in government.

“This is a very crucial day for the ANC as we are making history by introducing officially and announcing the first women premier-elect to the people of KwaZulu-Natal,” Mtolo said.

Dube-Ncube thanked the ANC for selecting her for the position of premier.

She said she will be hitting the ground running once in office to address the challenges faced by KZN residents.

“I do accept the deployment by the ANC and also wish to thank the party for the trust they have given to me to be able to lead a collective in government.

“I will be working with the ANC leadership and all of my colleagues in government to ensure that we deal with the crippling issues that we’re still facing in our province,” Dube-Ncube said.

KZN’s first women premier

Dube-Ncube beat KZN members of the provincial legislature, Mbali Fraser and Amanda Bani, for the position after the ANC interviewed them on Saturday.

If elected in the provincial legislature as the next premier, Dube-Ncube will make history as the first woman to occupy the position since South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.

Dube-Ncube was born and bred in KwaMashu in Durban north, and she has served in several government positions in the province.

She was the mayor of the North Central Local Council before the local authority of Durban was amalgamated with several others to form what is now a bigger municipality known as the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality.

Subsequent to that, Dube-Ncube was appointed the speaker of the metro. After her stint as the eThekwini speaker, the ANC redeployed her to serve as South Africa’s ambassador to the Czech Republic.

After that, Dube-Ncube was appointed back home to serve as the ANC’s chief whip in the KZN provincial legislature. She has also served as the ANC’s treasurer in the province.

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