Durban - Political parties in KwaZulu-Natal have welcomed Premier Sihle Zikalala’s decision to resign.
ANC KZN provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo said the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) had accepted the resignation “with pain and difficulty, as he was still doing a great job in the province since he took over”. But opposition parties strongly disagreed, and labelled Zikalala a failure.
Velenkosini Hlabisa, IFP president and leader of the official opposition in KZN, said that Zikalala’s resignation was long overdue.
Hlabisa said that the writing was on the wall following Zikalala’s embarrassing defeat at the ANC KZN Provincial Conference two weeks ago, and his unceremonious treatment by the conference delegates.
“Zikalala’s ejection from the Office of Premier will bring relief to the people of KZN in a variety of ways, as it is the beginning of the final ejection of the ANC in 2024 by the people of this province.
“Premier Zikalala has been the worst premier of KZN since the advent of democracy. Almost all departments under Zikalala’s tenure were implicated in corruption-related activities.
However, it has to be remembered that Zikalala was not operating alone, but was the leader of an ANC ‘collective’ in the province, which is what the ANC call themselves,” Hlabisa said.
NFP secretary-general Canaan Mdletshe said that since taking charge as the premier, Zikalala had dismally failed to deliver as expected and that, under his administration, very little could be attributed to him.
“Part of Zikalala’s legacy is dysfunctional and collapsing infrastructure that has been there for decades, some dating as far back as the apartheid regime. That infrastructure has not been improved,” Mdletshe said.
He said Zikalala’s legacy was that of a premier whose administration watched while millions of rands were looted and stolen by ANC cadres, both before and during Covid-19.
“This is the premier who dismally failed to ensure that he fought corruption in the KZN government and municipalities across the province. And many of the municipalities have continued to receive adverse audits from the A-G.
“Other than assaulting civilians and acting like Muhammad Ali by physically and publicly engaging in fist fights, Zikalala is credited with failing to marshal his MECs by allowing them to do as they please,” Mdletshe said.
Francois Rodgers, leader of the DA in KZN, said that nobody would have predicted Zikalala would have been so badly defeated at the ANC provincial conference two weeks ago, to an extent of not even being elected to the PEC.
“That must tell you a story that the man had lost popularity and arrogance got the better of him, so he started operating as a one-man show, and we certainly as opposition didn’t feel part of the team in the province.
The other thing that we must remember is that they say what goes around comes around. Senzo Mchunu was sent packing when Sihle won (at the 2015 ANC Conference), and the same thing is now happening to him. “Everything with his legacy went wrong.
We had the July unrest, we had the floods, which he obviously couldn’t do anything about, but we’ve seen that there is no disaster management and control.
Other than increasing the number of clean audits in the past financial year, I don’t think that Sihle Zikalala will be remembered for very much,” Rodgers said.
EFF KZN chairperson and MPL Vusi Khoza took to his Twitter account to react to the news of Zikalala’s resignation. “Goodbye, Sihle Zikalala. I told you during Sopa in February that you will never survive your provincial conference.
Do unblock me on Twitter since we are now on the same level.” Bongani Caluza, ActionSA KZN secretary, said Zikalala left behind a legacy of corruption, failure and insurmountable infrastructure decay across all corners of KZN.
He said it was under the failed leadership of Zikalala that flood victims remained in halls, without adequate shelter following the destructive floods in April. “Zikalala leaves while the corruption, money laundering and racketeering case worth over R340million of former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and other officials is ongoing.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE