Muzi Chirwa’s availability is no ‘do or die’

He said in an ANC leadership race the membership choose who they want to take charge.

Gert Sibande ANC leader Muzi Chirwa has said that his availability to contest in a provincial race will be determined by one of two things but it also won’t be “a do or die” as he is “not that ambitious” to go and occupy a provincial seat.

He said elective battles in the ANC come and go and what was always important for leaders is to enter the difficult phase of taking care of all the emotional reactions that the outcomes of the congress will bring and make sure everybody rallies behind the newly elected leadership.

Chirwa said he doesn’t believe in positions more than he believes in “being a foot-soldier of the ANC” and wants the processes to be opened up to anybody so that “the outcomes accommodate all of us and we unite behind the leadership and the vision of the ANC”.

He told 013NEWS this week that he believes acting chairman Mandla Ndlovu “can”.

“Comrade Mandla can,” Chirwa said Monday morning 25 November 2019 when speaking to the reporter.

He said his Gert Sibande district municipality, where he serves as mayor and a region where he is said to be running a group of ANC councillors zealous to return themselves to positions in 2021’s local government elections, has been “performing good and is one of the best performing municipalities countrywide”.

He said recently obtained clean audits were not just “clean on paper, we have completed real projects on the ground”.

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Chirwa is listed as the provincial secretary on a slate that wants Ndlovu to succeed deputy president DD Mabuza as well as Nkangala leader Speedy Mashilo who they want as deputy chairman and acting secretary Lindiwe Ntshalintshali to retain her post of deputy secretary.

Chirwa said the ANC was not about positions and his availability will be determined inside conference where “I will say one of two things. It’s either I will say I accept the nomination or decline the nomination. I will say one of the two things, so that’s why I’m saying only the branches will say who will win and whoever wins all of us we will rally behind that leader as we did when we were going to Nasrec where we supported NDZ but now all of us are rallying behind President Cyril Ramaphosa”.

He described Ndlovu as someone who is “not amenable to being captured

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“If comrade Mandla can be afforded an opportunity. Very humble, sober and not amenable to being captured. The problem is when you are captured and that’s where things start to go wrong”.

Meanwhile, Ndlovu is reportedly saying that he will only indicate his availability later.

“The only time that I will be asked that question will be in the conference after nominations when everybody will be asked whether they accept the nomination or not,” said Ndlovu.

(edited by ZK)

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