Dismay at handling of ANC dispute
Disgruntled ANC members in the home branch of eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo blocked the R103 at Inchanga.
|||Durban - Disgruntled members of the ANC in the home branch of eThekwini mayor, James Nxumalo, blocked the R103 at Inchanga on Tuesday.
The protesters were expressing dismay at the handling of their dispute over the convening of a recent party branch general meeting at Ward 6 in Inchanga.
Police spokesman, Captain Thulani Zwane, said protesters took to the road at 5am.
“They were complaining about the outcome of the election process where mayor, James Nxumalo was among the candidates,” Zwane said.
He said no arrest was made.
Late last month, the branch nominated councillor Zandile Gumede as chairman of the eThekwini region, a move that sparked protests by Nxumalo’s supporters the following day. They barricaded the road with burning tyres and rubble.
Protesters also complained about other irregularities, including food parcels allegedly being dished out to Gumede supporters and the locking out of some members from meetings.
On Monday, the leaders of the disgruntled members met a four-member task team from the ANC provincial leadership that consisted of Social Development MEC Weziwe Thusi, MPL Maggie Govender, legislature Speaker Lydia Johnson and veteran Theresa Mthembu.
Nkosinathi Mkhize, the members’ spokesman, said they were invited to the meeting to make a presentation on their dispute.
“We gave details on what happened at the branch general meeting, saying it was wrong. They also invited the branch executive to make a presentation, which was based on lies and their presentation was not interrogated,” Mkhize said.
He said their calls for a restart of the branch meeting were not heeded. “They told us that the meeting won’t be nullified but the audit process will be fast-tracked to decide if the branch passed the audit or not,” Mkhize said.
He also said they were disturbed by remarks, allegedly by some task team members, that they would not attend to issues raised by non-ANC members.
Thusi declined to comment.
Govender, Johnson, Mthembu and provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala could not be reached.
Daily News
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