By Neelam Rahim

The ANC RET and pro-Zuma faction has made a clean sweep, taking all of the top positions in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial election conference at the weekend. The election saw President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ally Sihle Zikalala suffering a substantial political blow when he lost the chairpersonship to former provincial youth league president Sboniso Duma.

Radio Islam discusses with political analyst Professor Dirk Kotze.

There is this widespread claim that Sboniso Duma and those who came in with him are pro-Zuma, pro-RET.

According to Dirk, to a large extent, that is valid. They do associate themselves very closely with President Zuma. As seen at the conference, there were songs sung in support of president Zuma, including questions that asked why he was jailed.

He says there is quite a strong sentiment at the moment in Kwazulu-Natal.

Zandile Kumedi did not stand as a candidate but is a former mayor of eThikwini, was selected as the chairperson of the eThikwini region and is openly a firm supporter of President Zuma. It appears that President Zuma still has a solid following in KZN. He added.

Dirk continued to tell Radio Islam that one should be careful to look at individual leaders as representatives of the entire province. He continues to say that the results show a 60% and 40% split between those elected more or less by President Zuma. The 40%, to a large extent, were supporters of President Ramaphosa.

According to Dirk, Kwazulu-Natal is a significant province within the ANC.

He says an important factor for the demise of Sihle Zikala is the fact the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal since 2016 is in demise. Zikalala’s leadership should take responsibility for the ANC losing so many votes there.

Listen to the full interview on Radio Islam’s podcast below.