ANC leaders from KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State will meet the party’s top six officials on Monday to iron out leadership battles that have crippled the party’s structures in those provinces.
After a solution is thrashed out, it will be taken to the national executive committee (NEC) lekgotla later this week.
The NEC meeting will discuss the pending appeals to court rulings that nullified the outcomes of provincial leadership elections in those two provinces.
Also on the agenda would be the filling of vacancies left by ANC deputy president David Mabuza and secretary-general Ace Magashule.
They served as both ANC chairpersons and premiers in Mpumalanga and the Free State respectively.
Magashule revealed he was ready to leave and serve full time at Luthuli House.
He said this would be finalised by March.
Magashule suggested that his provincial executive committee (PEC) still stands.
He contradicted the courts’ rulings when he said the ANC still recognised the PECs in both KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.
“There is still a PEC of the Free State. KwaZulu-Natal also appealed an execution order and, therefore, there is still a PEC. We will be engaging both provinces as national officials and I’m sure we want to engage and ensure that our members don’t use the courts. The ANC this year will be resolving itself,” Magashule said.
This is despite officials from the two PECs being barred from attending the ANC’s elective conference in Nasrec in December in their capacities as provincial leaders.
Some, including former ANC KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Sihle Zikalala, were forced to attend as branch delegates following the court judgments.
The high court ruled shortly before the elective conference that the KwaZulu-Natal PEC should immediately vacate office.
Zikalala would lead his delegation to a meeting with officials on Monday, where he hopes for a political settlement.
“It is not about whether we are fit or what, it is about reaching a political settlement. The issue of the structure is not a question,” he said.
Zikalala said his PEC “still stands”. Magashule echoed this when he told reporters on Friday that the ANC still recognises the PECs in both KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.