Durban - Zwakele Mncwango, DA KZN leader, said the resignation of KZN Premier Senzo Mchunu was proof that the ANC was pre-occupied with internal factional battles rather than delivering the basic services the ANC in KZN promised to when he was elected.
IFP National Chairman and Leader in the KZN Legislature, Blessed Gwala expressed concerns that the proposed re-shuffling of the cabinet was influenced by party factionalism and could lead to renewed intra-party violence.
“We are seeing sitting ANC councillors and candidates for the local government elections being killed because of positions. It would be sad if the proposed re-shuffle is used as a vehicle to settle political scores or to reward those who support a particular grouping within the ANC.”
The ANC Youth League in KZN welcomed the the resignation but called on the ANC to beef-up the provincial executive through deploying the former leaders of the ANCYL to the cabinet to speed up service delivery to the people of KwaZulu-Natal.
“We have a number of bright minds in the legislature, including the likes Sihle Zikalala, Mthandeni Dlungwane, Mxolisi Kaunda, Nomagugu Simelane, Nontembeko Boyce and Bongi Sithole, Mdumiseni Ntuli, who are all our former leaders,” the Youth League said in a statement.
Political analyst Xolani Dube, of the Xubera Institute, said the chickens had come home to roost for Mchunu who once plotted to oust former KZN premier Zweli Mkhize.
He said what happened was in the nature of politics and was not going to have a negative impact as the party headed for local government elections in August.
“Politicians are opportunists. No one is going to sacrifice their career for someone else.
“After a week, those who were with Senzo will sing Sihle’s tune. We have to bear in mind that Senzo and Sihle were once like tongue and saliva.
“You could not separate them. They plotted against Zweli. There is nothing strange that is going to happen.
“Those who supported Senzo, after a week will sit down and calculate the risks of continuously being the opposition within the ANC and they will see that it is not worth it. They will eventually support Sihle.
“There is nothing that is going to change and people start moving away from the ANC. People have learnt a lesson through Cope and the NFP who left their parties.
“It is not an easy thing to move from a secure environment when you are not being chased out or expelled like Malema,” he said.
Dube said the ANC still stood to win the local government elections in the province.
SA tweeps also weighed in on Mchunu's resignation.
Looking for reasons why #SenzoMchunu was RECALLED, but NOT Zuma : pic.twitter.com/78ArFWBKGf
— Armandt van Helden (@ibadaan) May 20, 2016
@krivpillay- ANC rather have leaders that are loyal to the individuals than the party. Long live #SenzoMchunu👊 #AMLive
— King Shaka (@KingShaka79) May 24, 2016
The #SenzoMchunu debacle is evidence that there's a bad habit of power hungriness there! #ANC is a danger to itself! #Zuma is the symptom!