- The KwaZulu-Natal ANC leadership has said it is an exaggeration to call the recent unrest a "failed insurrection".
- The party's provincial secretary said they were analysing the motive behind the unrest in the province.
- Mdumiseni Ntuli said the country was far from an insurrection.
KwaZulu-Natal ANC secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli has characterised President Cyril Ramaphosa's pronouncements that the recent deadly unrest was a "failed insurrection" as an "exaggeration".
"We may be somehow overexaggerating the nature of the problem, if we immediately apportion it to be an attempt to remove a democratically elected government of the ANC," he said.
Ntuli said it was too early to label the unrest an attempted insurrection. He added that the leadership in KwaZulu-Natal was still waiting to see if the recent unrest was an exaggeration.
"An insurrection or coup, as some ministers have made reference to, first and foremost must be having a distinct and noticeable leadership. It can't just be a chaos of people in different parts of the county whose actions are in essence counter-revolutionary. That may later on result in chaos in society that may give rise to a condition for an insurrection," he said.
Ntuli spoke to Newzroom Afrika's Xoli Mngambi on the programme Newsfeed on Tuesday.
"We may be somehow over-exaggerating the nature of the problem if we immediately apportion it to be an attempt to remove a democratically elected government of the ANC" - Mdumiseni Ntuli on whether he agrees with the President's characterization of the past week's event. pic.twitter.com/GaXvWPPJv7
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) July 20, 2021
His remarks followed a provincial working committee (PWC) meeting on Monday focusing on the recent unrest that plagued KwaZulu-Natal.
READ | Insurrection: No way Mapisa-Nqakula did not know what Ramaphosa knew, Deputy Defence Minister says
Ntuli said according to the KwaZulu-Natal ANC leadership the country was far from an insurrection. He added that in their analysis, what occurred in the province was looting.
He added:
Ntuli denied that the provincial ANC leadership had added fuel to the division seemingly occurring in Cabinet.
This came after Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was slammed for contradicting the president by saying there was no evidence of an insurrection.
On Friday, Ramaphosa said the unrest that had claimed the lives of more than 200 people was an attempted insurrection.
"We are a political organisation. So, we approach issues on the basis of concrete analysis of the situation we face. We believe, as the PWC, that we are yet to understand the nature and source of the problem we are confronted with. We are not yet at a point where you can concretely appropriate [the issue] to this or that situation," Ntuli said.
On the arrest of Ngizwe Mchunu, a former radio DJ who handed himself over to the police on Monday, Ntuli said it was all a joke and that Mchunu had no influence in the ANC.
"I don't even know if he's a member of the ANC. He doesn't even participate in our structures as far as I know. If he's involved, it may be a certain branch somewhere. He has no prominence whatsoever in any region or even in the province in KwaZulu-Natal.
"He's involvement, as we have seen. Has been [making] reckless statements... in the media over the past two or three months. Whether that constitutes sufficient basis to even characterise him as one of the core instigators and possible leader or what would have ultimately become an insurrection, we are yet to see," Ntuli said.
