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ANC Deputy President Paul Mashatile says KZN leaders aren’t to blame for poor election results
Ayize claire
Dec 10, 2024
ANC Deputy President Paul Mashatile
African National Congress (ANC) Deputy President Paul Mashatile stated that the party does not hold KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) leaders responsible for its poor performance in the province during the May general elections. The ANC secured only 17% of the vote and lost its majority in the region.
Mashatile visited party structures in KZN on Tuesday, urging branches to focus on rebuilding. He also participated in door-to-door campaigning ahead of the upcoming by-election in Msunduzi municipality.
The ANC’s national working committee is expected to review a report on the party’s poor performance in KZN and Gauteng next Monday.
Amid speculation about the possible disbanding of the KZN leadership, Mashatile clarified:
“When we invited the province, it was because we wanted to assess the challenges that we had during the election. We did this with KZN, and yesterday [Monday], we did that with Gauteng. There was speculation that we were calling the province to disband - that is not the case.”
Although KZN and Gauteng showed the worst results, Mashatile highlighted that many provinces failed to meet the party’s expectations:
“We are not blaming the leadership of KZN because if you look at the whole country, you’ll see that many parts of the country didn’t do well. It’s not just these two provinces. There’s nothing on the table that says we must disband the province of KZN.”
Mashatile emphasized the need for unity within ANC branches and stressed the importance of recovering lost ground to strengthen the party.
