Durban - The ANC says the party wants to rekindle its relationship with members of the Indian and coloured communities.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, top officials and national executive committee deployees visited the Zulu king on Tuesday and met party structures in Durban yesterday.
National spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the ANC was the only organisation that had support in all communities nationally.
She said the disconnect with minority communities was troubling to the governing party.
“We are looking to rekindle our relationships with the Indian and coloured community that come from a progressive and historical tradition.”
Bhengu-Motsiri said this statement would be viewed in light of the looming elections, but every party canvassing for votes would look at different constituencies.
“The issue that is being flagged is the need for the ANC to reconnect with all cultural and linguistic communities in the province – the ANC has always enjoyed a strong relationship with the Indian community in this province.”
She said August 20 would mark the founding of the United Democratic Front (UDF), a progressive movement that encompassed South Africans from different constituencies. “We are reminded that as part of commemorating the UDF there is a sense of disconnect of how South Africa must be representative of all different constituencies.”
Mbalula announced last week that former KZN provincial deputy chairperson and MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu would lead the party’s 2024 election campaign in the province.
Mabuyakhulu, a strong ally of President Cyril Ramaphosa and a political veteran, voluntarily stepped aside in 2021 as per ANC rules after he faced charges relating to R28.5 million paid by the KZN provincial government to host the North Sea Jazz Festival in the province in 2012. He was acquitted of all charges in May.
Bhengu-Motsiri said Mabuyakhulu had been chosen to head the provincial electoral campaign because of his extensive experience both in government and in the party.
She also addressed the ongoing public spat between ANC Youth League leader Collen Malatji and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan over state-owned companies (SOCs).
Malatji has refused to apologise for saying that if Gordhan is not stopped from selling SOCs, “he will sell everything, including South Africans”.
She said the youth league was within its rights to raise issues in a robust manner. “It is not a personal attack on Comrade Pravin Gordhan. I know there is currently an assessment of all public ministries and if there is anything that needs to be looked at, it is the evaluation of each department’s performance which will be contained in a report.”