A war of words has erupted within an ANC WhatsApp groups after ANC provincial executive committee member and BCM deputy mayor Zoliswa Matana referred to her fellow PEC member Zinzi Rabe as “factional”.
Matana was commenting on a poster of a Mdantsane Branch “car wash” campaign blitz which was to be attended by Rabe as a PEC member.
Several leaders of the party from the Dr WB Rubusana Region belong to the branch Mtyanti Msauli, including Ncedo Kumbaca, BCM mayor Xola Pakati and Sinethemba Mashalaba among others.
In the poster for the car wash blitz hosted on Saturday several ANC regional leaders were listed as attendees. These included regional secretary Antonio Carels, Pakati and Kumbaca, among others.
In a WhatsApp conversation seen by the Dispatch in a group called PM 18 For Chairperson, someone posted the car wash poster and wrote: “The youth is going forward”.
Matana then replies calling out Rabe. She writes: “What is this above? Yuh! Zinzi loves factions.”
In retaliation Rabe posted a strongly-worded text in the ANC’s main PEC WhatsApp group calling out Matana for sowing division at a critical time of elections.
Rabe fires: “We are in election mode but people are busy with factional WhatsApp groups discussing people’s names, planting seeds of divisions, instead of giving guidance, political lessons to the young they are with in those groups. What amazes is listening to these people when they talk feeling all concerned about these problems we are facing yet behind the scenes they are the cause.”
She adds that she is shocked that there are still different factions in WhatsApp groups even though the elective conferences had already passed.
Contacted by the Dispatch, Rabe refused comment on “internal ANC matters” referring all questions to the ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi.
Matana said she was in a meeting but had not yet responded to a text sent to her by the time of writing.
The Dispatch understands that Ngcukayitobi is looking into the matter. Ngcukayitobi did not respond to a request for comment texted to him.
siphem@dispatch.co.za..