NATIONAL NEWS - ANC spokesperson and NEC member Zizi Kodwa has denied claims made by Nelson Mandela regional secretary Themba Xathula that the region has “escalated the problem” of the disappearance of BGM (branch general meeting) packages, which necessitated a request to all branches in the region to postpone BGMs.
“You are speaking to the wrong person. We don’t run BGMs. Talk to the regional secretary. The SG’s [secretary-general Gwede Mantashe] office knows nothing about this matter,” Kodwa told The Citizen this morning when asked what kind of “intervention” Luthuli House would be instituting as per the communique below.
It is not yet clear whether the region has been able to recover the missing packages after they were discovered missing on November 14. In the event that the region is unable to locate the packages and hold the BGMs, this could have far-reaching implications for all the branches in the region.
“The secretary is in a meeting with amabutho, and can unfortunately not talk to you at the moment,” an employee at the regional office in Port Elizabeth said this morning. This was consistent with the response Xathula gave to The Citizen yesterday afternoon.
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Another employee said the Xathula was holed up in meeting with branch leaders and that the regional chairperson Phumzile Tshuni was not in the office, and would ordinarily not deal with media queries.
When called, Tshuni confirmed he was aware of the problem, but would not talk, as “he is busy”. He pleaded with The Citizen to “respect” that he was engaged in other matters and would not be able comment on the matter.
An ANC insider, who asked for anonymity, with intimate knowledge of the nomination process leading to the elective conference cautioned The Citizen to not raise its expectations on responses, as the issue went to the heart of why ANC provinces had taken the ruling party to court.
She said, technically, in the absence of the BGM packages, the region “is not in good standing” and thus had no basis to attend the elective conference in terms of the ANC constitution.
