By Dylan Bettencourt
- Senzo Mchunu warns ANC will collapse if it loses next year’s local elections saying the party is walking on the edge of a cliff.
- KZN ANC coordinator Mike Mabuyakhulu admits the party became big-headed and took voters for granted leading to current problems.
Senzo Mchunu has warned that the ANC is about to collapse, saying serious help is needed to save it.
Speaking at Machobeni in Ingwavuma in northern KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday during the tombstone unveiling of late struggle hero Nokuhamba Nyawo, Mchunu said the upcoming local government elections next year will decide everything for the ANC.
“If we do not win municipalities in the upcoming local government next year, come the national government elections, we will be history,” he said.
Mchunu compared the ANC to a person walking on the edge of a cliff. He said the party needs to get together before it is too late.
“We know that people still love the ANC… We became big-headed and started taking them for granted and they punished us,” he said, adding there is still time to fix their ways.
Mchunu said they can still get back all their members who had left the movement and joined other new parties.
Mchunu was placed on special leave by President Cyril Ramaphosa after explosive corruption claims made by KZN provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. During his speech, he avoided talking about the claims made against him and only said he is waiting for the right time to talk at the commission.
KZN ANC coordinator Mike Mabuyakhulu said they are running a strong campaign to bring back numbers in the party. Mabuyakhulu said he is hopeful that the party will bounce back and regain its glory.
He said they do not like coalitions and want to lead alone.
“To be in a coalition with the IFP and DA does not mean that they are friends, they are rivals,” he said.
Mabuyakhulu said the party needs to blame itself for losing power. “We need to work extra hard to get public trust back,” Mabuyakhulu said.
ANC leader in the Nokuhamba Nyawo region, Verus Ncamphalala, said they are going for a clean sweep in their region in the upcoming local government elections next year in honour of Nyawo.
“There is no better way to honour Mam’ Nyawo than winning in all municipalities in our region,” said Ncamphalala.
The region has four local municipalities: uMhlabuyalingana, Jozini, Mtubatuba and Big Five Hlabisa – all of which are led by the IFP.
Nyawo used to hide uMkhonto we Sizwe fighters in her home at Ingwavuma to save them from being arrested by police during apartheid.
The area of Ingwavuma was special during the apartheid years because it is close to Eswatini and was one of the first places that the fighters would reach when coming from Mozambique via Swaziland.
Pictured above: Senzo Mchunu.
Image source: File
