Former ANC provincial chairperson and former premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Senzo Mchunu, has warned that the ANC could lose the province in the 2019 elections if it does not resolve its divisions, adding that two rival factions in the province needed to find each other.
According to Business Day, Mchunu was speaking to the media after a report-back to 300 ANC branches on last week's court judgment. The judgment set aside the ANC's 2015 provincial elective conference where Mchunu was ousted as leader and replaced by Sihle Zikalala.
The two factions are reportedly split over who should lead the ANC after its elective conference in December. Zikalala's faction reportedly backs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma while Mchunu's faction backs Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
While the provincial ANC would wait for its national structures to decide what should be done about the court case, the provincial ANC could not sit on its hands.
"But, at the same time, we think we in the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal need to begin to find each other. We need to stop the politics of saying so and so won and... now has the power to be a real henchman where you do anything that you want without any principle," Mchunu reportedly said.
He said it was important for the provincial executive committee to be cautious about exercising its powers.
"Let's humble ourselves and sit down and... talk, and guard against us losing in 2019 on the altar of bickering," Mchunu reportedly said.