‘I will save ANC from being a political carcass,’ says Kumbaca

A fresh young leader has emerged to contest the chair position at ANC Dr WB Rubusana region in the Eastern Cape, with a promise to rescue it from the abyss of political ruin and save the beleaguered Buffalo City metro from the jaws of corruption.

Ncedo Kumbaca has decided to fight for the position after several ANC branches, sick and tired of the ongoing infighting in the region, approached him.

Ironically, the region was named after stalwart Dr Walter Rubusana, whose pioneering Imbumba Yamanyama organisation in the 1800s was believed to be a forerunner of the ANC.

Kumbaca was up against suspended incumbent, Phumlani Mkolo, local businessman Lunga Nqam and veteran councillor and former acting mayor Sakhumzi Caga, who also recently announced his availability.

The regional conference scheduled for last weekend was postponed through a court interdict obtained by disgruntled members and by Luthuli House after it confirmed nomination manipulations in number of branches.

Mkolo could be out of the race soon if Luthuli House, as rumoured, issues an instruction that those on suspension could not participate in elections.

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This would leave Kumbaca with a good chance to beat Nqam and Caga.

Kumbaca’s wide participation in the branch and regional leaderships of both the ANC Youth League and the ruling party put him in good stead to win.

Kumbaca, a former journalist and roads and transport department spokesperson in the Eastern Cape, confirmed to The Citizen he is indeed in the running.

“My campaign is about restoring hope to the ANC; it is about protecting the little that is left of the party in terms of its integrity and moral authority in society,” he said.

“If we fail to stand up as a younger generation of leaders, we face a foreseeable catastrophe of inheriting the ANC in a form of a political carcass; a lifeless body that is not capable to provide solutions to challenges facing society, which include unemployment, inequality and poverty.”

Kumbaca has a track record in leadership in the area, including his current position as chair of the Mtyanti Msauli branch in Mdantsane. He previously served as Rubusana regional treasurer, and in various ANC Youth League leadership positions.

Should he win, Kumbaca’s slate of regional executive candidates includes Awethu-Amandla Zumana for regional secretary, Amanda Mnyute for deputy secretary and Sithembiso Khanyile for treasurer.

Kumbaca said he was open for engagement about the position of deputy chair.

“The whole world must know that descendants of Rubusana are rising to save his organisation,” Kumbaca said.

Besides his journalism qualifications, Kumbaca held a series of managerial leadership level programmes in public administration, finance, executive development, supply chain management, local government and treasury executive leadership.

He is currently completing a certificate in municipal finance management at Fort Hare University.