Ferrari turned Tazz: Mbalula slams ANC KZN as a ‘disappointment’ at NGC
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has slammed the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) structure, accusing the province of collapsing under factional battles and poor performance, and likening what was meant to be a “Ferrari” to a sputtering “Tazz”.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ANC’s National General Council (NGC) meeting in Boksburg on Wednesday, Mbalula said the national leadership had lost confidence in the KZN provincial executive committee (PEC), which was disbanded earlier this year following the party’s bruising 2024 election results.
“KZN is a big disappointment in terms of our intervention, and I can assure you there are going to be changes,” he said, promising a smaller, “leaner” structure with new leaders.
“We thought we were bringing a Ferrari, but now a Tazz is operating there. We have not been doing well.”
Mbalula said the party had acted out of necessity as the province became the epicentre of what he described as an “existential crisis”, with internal contestation overpowering organisational work.
“What do people do when we give them a task? They are busy fighting over who must lead.
“They are fighting over positions, not the mandate we gave them. What do we do with such people? We put them aside,” he said.
The ANC’s intervention in KZN mirrors similar action in Gauteng, where the PEC was also disbanded in the wake of the party’s historic electoral decline.
Both provinces, once reliable strongholds, delivered some of the worst results for the ANC since 1994, forcing the national leadership to initiate sweeping corrective measures.
Veteran Amos Masondo was appointed to stabilise Gauteng, while former minister Jeff Radebe was deployed to lead KZN through a politically volatile transition.
Mbalula insisted that the coming restructures, expected to intensify from February, were aimed at rebuilding credibility and discipline in two of the party’s most strategically important provinces.
“We have not been doing well. KZN we disbanded the structure because we are facing an existential crisis there, a tsunami,” he said.
He said the ANC should function.
kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za
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