Lungani Zungu
Zandile Gumede might be prepared to step aside, but her future at the ANC still looks bleak.
“If I’m asked to step aside, I will respect that decision of my party,” she told Scrolla.Africa.
This comes after the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) repeated calls for all party leaders facing charges to step down or else be forced out like the suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule.
Gumede might also be barred from running for the position of ANC chairperson when the eThekwini region holds its elective conference.
Her change of mind comes after weeks of defiance against the step aside policy.
“I have always been a disciplined member of the ANC. When the party asked me to step down as an MPL last year I did that without fighting,” said Gumede.
With her ally, Magashule, already out of his position for six months, Gumede finds herself on shaky ground.
Party insiders told Scrolla.Africa that the ANC in KZN was expected to tell Gumede to step down as an MPL.
Gumede was told to step aside due to the charges she faced stemming from the R430 million Durban Solid Waste (DSW) tender issued during her time as mayor in 2017.
In August, Gumede was recalled as an MPL, shortly after being deployed to the position. However, she was redeployed.
Mike Mabuyakhulu, deputy chairperson of the ANC in KZN, voluntarily stepped aside recently, saving himself from embarrassment. The former MEC for Economic Development was charged with corruption relating to the R28 million government-sponsored 2012 North Sea Jazz Festival that never happened.
ANC spokesperson Nhlakanipho Ntombela said they will comment once the NEC meeting is over on Monday.
