Mpumalanga backs Zuma

HAZYVIEW – While “Occupy Luthuli House” marched on the ANC headquarters to demand Mr Jacob Zuma be recalled on Monday, Mpumalanga continues to support the beleaguered president.

Ahead of the group’s march, provincial chairman, Mr David Mabuza, addressed the provincial executive committee’s lekgotla outside Hazyview over the weekend, where party leaders analysed the election results.

Also read: ANC coming to terms with seven-point drop in Mpumalanga support

Mabuza defended Zuma, saying he could not be blamed for the party’s decline. He said attributing the poor performance to the controversy surrounding Zuma’s private residence in Nkandla was misguided.

“These elections were about local leaders. People don’t care much about Nkandla. There were flaws in the candidate selection process of councillors prior to the elections. Proper processes were not followed. Some communities were not consulted, voters were not happy with that,” he said.

After months of speculation, Mabuza declared that he would not seek a seat in the top six of the party’s national executive committee during the party’s elective conference next year.

Also read: Unity in the ruling party is still a priority 

He said he was not impressed by party members he claimed were pushing him to contest the positions.

Mabuza, who is widely regarded as a member of the so-called premier league in the Zuma camp, distanced himself from the party’s divisions.

“I am not going to be part of people who want to divide the organisation. We went to the Polokwane conference divided as factions and that was not healthy for the party. It gave birth to COPE and we lost a part of ourselves,” he said.

Without mentioning names, Mabuza said some of the statements made by leaders who once served in the organisation were reckless.

“We learned from them and we expect them to lead by example. It’s hurtful to listen to a leader who I once followed stabbing the organisation from behind.”

One of the prevalent issues that caused the ANC to underperform in the elections was that party leaders spoke in different voices, according to the chairman.

“The most painful blow that came from within the party itself,” he said.

Although the organisation retained all its 17 municipalities in the province, its electoral support has declined by eight per cent, from 78,3 per cent in 2011 to the current 70,74 per cent.

According to Mabuza, the party is bleeding and it needs to do introspection.

“We feel the pain. We cannot sit down and lick our wounds, we need to stand up and pick up the pieces.”

He said another reason that led to the party’s electoral support decline, was a wrong belief among leaders that the ANC will be in power for ever.

Also read: Zuma preach unity at conference 

He invoked the ANC’s habitual defence, that decades of squalid conditions for the poor under apartheid cannot be entirely reversed after just 22 years of democracy.

“The resources that we have at our disposal are not enough. The past left a deep cut.”