ALLEGATIONS OF A RIFT BETWEEN MCHUNU AND ZIKALALA ARE RECYCLED LIES
The recent report that there is a plan to prevent our provincial chairperson Cde Senzo Mchunu from becoming premier after the elections is nothing but a recycled lie that has on several occasions failed to achieve its goal of dividing our movement.
One doesn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that this is part of a pack of lies deliberately spread throughout 2013 to create the impression that there were tensions between Mchunu (Senzo) and his deputy, Cde Willies Mchunu.
These barefaced lies failed to achieve their goal of creating a wedge between the two comrades and it is clear that the forces of evil have not taken it kindly that their wicked wish has not materialised hence they have now modified and recycled their lies.
The latest reports suggest that a group led by our provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala has hatched a plan to prevent Mchunu from becoming a member of the provincial legislature or premier. This is absurd and it shows how far some people can go to destroy our glorious movement.
Let me stoop low to the level of these liars who mislead reporters for a moment and assume there is such a group. I am doing this to make your readers understand how the process would unfold if the imagined group would operate.
This means that the group would nullify the completed three months-long nomination process which saw Mchunu overwhelmingly voted number one on our provincial list of people whom we want to represent us in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature after this year's general elections.
The group would have to organise meetings in all our branches throughout the province to restart the nomination process afresh and also reconvene a provincial nomination conference to consolidate lists from all our branches. They would have to do all this before the upcoming elections.
The group would also have to - without the mandate of the entire provincial executive committee - cajole the ANC national leadership to make sure that Comrade Mchunu is not among those who should be considered for the premiership post.
Such processes are not only cumbersome and impossible to implement, but they are not something that could be spearheaded by Cde Zikalala, a reasonable man and a dedicated cadre who has fought tirelessly to build unity in the ANC. As a person who works with Mchunu and Zikalala, I cannot imagine the latter being part of such a conspiracy. As the provincial secretary, Zikalala works closely with the chairperson, successfully organising his programmes and activities on a daily basis.
They have both refuted claims that they do not see eye to eye and they are united in ensuring that our organisation continues to win the hearts and minds of the people of the province. They both want the ANC to win overwhelmingly during the upcoming elections.
It is not true that Zikalala is trying to protect the ANC chairperson in Musa Dladla Region, Thulani Mashaba, against allegations of corruption and nepotism in Uthungulu Municipality. I have no doubt that the people who misled reporters are well aware that the ANC national and provincial leadership are currently investigating these allegations.
Although our members on the ground, who work with Zikalala and Mchunu know that the allegations carried in the media reports are blatant lies, I am concerned that these recycled stories will eventually succeed in misleading the public at large.
As we approach the elections, it will be paramount for journalists to look at every bit of information they receive from anonymous sources with a more discriminating eye. When an anonymous source exposed the Watergate scandal that led to former US President Richard Nixon losing his job in the early 1970s, people from all over the world fell in love with anonymous sources.
Today the practice of supplying information to journalists anonymously has been hijacked by unscrupulous faceless sources that use every trick in the book to spread lies with a sole purpose of fulfilling their evil agendas. It is therefore important that reporters are on the lookout for such sources whose aim is not to unearth truth but spread lies and mislead the public.
Bongani Tembe is an ANC media liaison officer in KwaZulu-Natal
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