Thuthukile Zuma, the youngest daughter of President Jacob Zuma and Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is accused of "stealing" an ANC Youth League branch, News 24 reported on Wednesday.
Thuthukile, who is known as Thuthu, who was previously the chair of the Bheki Mkhize branch in Northcliff, was allegedly voted secretary of the branch at a five-star hotel in Randpark Ridge after chaos broke out at the Windsor Recreation Centre, where the voting was due to take place last week Thursday night. She allegedly hired bouncers to stop some ANC Youth League members from participating in a meeting to elect new leaders for the league's Bheki Mkhize branch in Northcliff, Johannesburg. The position of secretary however is believed to hold more power.
"We know she is being positioned in order to facilitate a pronouncement for her mom as the next ANC president from both the region and the province," said one ANC Youth League member.
"She stole the branch. Thuthu has been trying to get her hands on that branch and she finally did it", an anonymous insider told News 24.
When approached for comment, Zuma referred News24 to league regional convenor Mangaliso Khonza, who denied the allegations.
However, several sources told News 24 that she was to blame for the fracas during the branch's election and that it was her second attempt to become branch secretary. They claimed she brought non-members to pretend they were members to support an earlier meeting on May 12. That meeting collapsed as members sang and refused to allow the league's deployee and regional convenor, Tefo Raphado, to proceed with the elections.
Khonza blamed the chaos on a "rent-a-crowd" brought in to disturb the night's proceedings. "They were rowdy and when the deployees tried to engage them, there was lots of interference from those we can say were non-members," he told News24.
He, in addition to other insiders, linked the tensions in the branch to the succession battle ahead of the ANC national elective conference in December, when Jacob Zuma is expected to step down as president. President Zuma has indicated that his ex wife would be his ideal replacement.
"This is not just happening to Thuthukile's branch. It's a 2017 issue that is spiralling and involving itself in the youth league," Khonza said.
Khonza said a few branches in the region had been flooded with "non-members". This supported claims by several ANC leaders that democratic processes in the party were fraught with corruption, buying of delegates, and gatekeeping.