Durban – Willies Mchunu will be KwaZulu-Natal’s next premier following the resignation of Senzo Mchunu on Monday. Mchunu will be deployed to the National Assembly.
The African National Congress (ANC) made the announcement at a press conference on Monday evening. Willies Mchunu is the current MEC for the Department of Transport, Community Safety, and Liaison in KwaZulu Natal.
The party’s provincial secretary Super Zuma made the announcement at the party’s provincial headquarters in Durban on Monday evening, not long after Senzo Mchunu quit his position early in the day following days of speculation that he was getting the sack.
“The ANC KwaZulu-Natal has received, considered and accepted the resignation of comrade Edward Senzo Mchunu from the position of the premier of our province.
“This decision by comrade Mchunu followed a detailed assessment of the state of governance in the province and extensive consultation with the National Executive Committee,” said Zuma.
He called on the people of KwaZulu-Natal to “accept and respect” the decision made by Senzo Mchunu to resign.
“The ANC Provincial Executive Committee pays tribute to comrade Senzo for the work he has done for our people, acting on behalf of his organization, the ANC,” said Zuma.
He said that the announcement of Willies Mchunu as the new premier had been made after the party’s alliance partners - the SA Communist Party, the Congress of SA Trade Unions and the South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco) had been consulted.
In a statement released late Monday, Mchunu confirmed that his decision to step down followed a meeting held last Friday with the ANC’s provincial leadership, where he said that six accusations were levelled against him.
Mchunu did not, however, specify what the accusations were, but said that he was advised to resign by Monday and that the issue of his deployment was also discussed.
Provincial chairman Sihle Zikalala, who was also speaking at the same press conference, said that there had been “an assessment” of Mchunu’s performance that was put to Mchunu, but he too did not divulge what the assessment was.
“These were not accusations, they were the results of an assessment,” said Zikalala. He said that all processes were followed in asking Mchunu to step down. “The ANC is not a wishy-washy organisation. We have principles. We followed the guidelines and they were clean.”
In his statement, Senzo Mchunu said: “It is true that last Friday morning we held a meeting at the Provincial office with the [provincial] leadership at their request. All statements made so far about my reaction to what was discussed at that meeting are not true.”
“I have, however, had a chat with [Gwede Mantashe] on the matter and raised my reservations about [how my stepping aside and possible deployment] were handled, specifically the role of [provincial] head office in it,” said Mchunu.
“On Saturday I did call the (ANC) secretary general, Cde Gwede Mantashe, to consolidate my understanding of what was unfolding. I was, among other things, driven by the feeling that dignity, integrity and fairness are always important in circumstances of this nature, more so where it has to do with ANC internal processes.
“I felt the need to clarify certain issues and contribute in this after I observed what was unfolding in the media.”
Mantashe and Mchunu spoke again on Sunday, he said, mainly about deployment. During this conversation, Mantashe explained to him why the ANC had allowed the province to tell Mchunu he was being recalled. Mchunu did not say what reasons were offered by Mantashe for the provincial office handling his resignation.
Mchunu said that he would “cooperate with the decision of the ANC’s National Working Committee [to step down] and will respond in writing on the issue of redeployment”.
He said reports regarding his absence from the National Prayer Day event in Durban on Sunday were untrue.
Mchunu, who was appointed premier of the province in August 2013, was ousted last November as provincial chairman of the ANC. Former provincial secretary, Sihle Zikalala, won the poll and took over as leader of the party in the province.
African News Agency