ANC Musa Dladla Regional Chairperson Mkhulisi warns of danger facing the ANC

ANC Musa Dladla Regional Chairperson Ntombenhle Mkhulisi has warned of the danger facing the ANC if the movement fails to unite.

Speaking at the opening of the 5th Musa Dladla Women’s League Regional Conference held last week at Ngamla Lodge, Mkhulisi said the ANC was in crisis.

‘If we don’t pull in the same direction, we may as well bid our movement goodbye, even in government.

‘For the soul of the ANC we need to accept each other and swallow our pride so that future generations may find the ANC intact, just like all of us did. This ANC was founded in 1912 when we were not around and the onus is on us to keep it together.

‘Shifting to the ANC’s leadership, Mkhulisi said: ‘We are about to make history. Come our December Conference, we’ll have a woman as 13th President of the ANC.

She did not mention Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma by name.

Mkhulisi’s sentiments were echoed by Women’s League Provincial Deputy Chairperson, Dolly Shandu, who said women were more than ready to lead.

She said the unity and cohesion that everybody preached about, must not be a song, but an action.

‘Our unity is dead Comrades, because we only speak about it, but we don’t practise it,’ she said.

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Battle of the deputy mayors

The two-day conference also saw King Cetshwayo District Deputy Mayor Alice Mthembu squaring up against City of uMhlathuze Deputy Mayor Silondile Mkhize for the position of the chairmanship, which Mkhize won.

Speaking to the Zululand Observer after her election victory, Mkhize said her immediate plans would be to strengthen the ANC in the region, the Women’s League and empower women to benefit in the mainstream economy of the country through radical economic transformation.

‘As a collective we will be going to branches to form sub-regions so that work can be centralised. Women are on the receiving end of poverty and all the social ills confronting us. The killings of women and children are getting out of hand.’

Asked about the national leadership race, Mkhize was diplomatic.

‘We will wait for the right moment. The time for such pronouncement has not come.’

• Other office bearers are former District Mayor Thembeka Mchunu, who was elected as Deputy Chairperson, Babhekile Mthembu as Secretary, Khiye Zungu as Deputy Secretary and Miriam Ntombela as Treasurer, plus 15 additional members.