- Zandile Gumede will step aside from her position as KwaZulu-Natal MPL with immediate effect.
- She is one of 12 ANC members in the province who are affected by the ANC's step-aside rule.
- The provincial ANC said, however, that there was nothing stopping her and others from running for positions within party structures.
Former eThekwini mayor and member of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, Zandile Gumede, has agreed to step aside from her official duties.
She is one of 12 embattled provincial ANC members who, based on the step-aside rule from ANC national structures, will refrain from official party duties.
"These comrades have also accepted the decision of the national executive committee, as the highest organ of our movement in between conferences, and agreed to step aside pending the finalisation of their court cases," said ANC provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli on Tuesday.
He was briefing the media on the outcomes of the party's provincial executive meeting held over the weekend.
Ntuli said there had been no resistance from Gumede when told she would have to step aside. He said:
"Now that they [affected members] have been formally told, it [stepping aside] happens with immediate effect."
Comrades
Ntuli was, however, clear that those who stepped aside, could still hold office in ANC structures.
"There hasn't been a decision at the level of the NEC or NWC which effectively bars comrades being considered for election in the structures of the ANC."
He said they would not deviate from any directives by the national ANC and, therefore, could not stop his colleagues from stepping up to positions within the party.
"As a province, we don't have an intention to impose additional measures which are not regulated by the national executive committee. We belong to the same organisation, so it is important that our approach is the same as the ANC.
"The eligibility of comrades to be elected into positions of leadership at this stage has not been taken as a decision by the organisation. At this stage, there hasn't been that position."
Gumede has had a difficult political run since she was asked to step down as eThekwini mayor in 2019.
While she is presently an MPL in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, she also faces serious charges of corruption alongside several other political figures and business people in Durban.
She has been implicated in a multimillion-rand Durban Solid Waste tender scandal, where she is accused of using her political influence to manipulate the outcomes of tenders.