NEWLY elected ANC KZN chairman has passed his first leadership test after he talked conference delegates into not booing or heckling President Cyril Ramaphosa while delivering his message at the elective conference.
Despite warnings and threats of heckling, Ramaphosa plucked up the courage and showed face at the Olive Convention Center to address the delegates. This was after conflicting reports of whether he would be coming or not following the defeat of his allies by the influential Taliban faction which delivered Duma's victory in a clean sweep.
The writing was on the wall for Ramaphosa that he would not be welcomed at the conference with former MKMVA spokesman Carl Niehaus leading the charge with protests outside the venue advocating for him not to be allowed to speak at the conference.
The issue was the province resenting Ramaphosa for what they called the ill-treatment of former president Jacob Zuma after he was sentenced to jail by the Constitutional Court for contempt of court following his refusal to appear before the State Capture Inquiry chaired by now Chief Justice Raymond Zondo whom Zuma accused of being biased against and wanted him to recuse himself.
The jailing of Zuma led to an uprising in KZN and Gauteng and led to massive looting in the two provinces leaving a trail of destruction and loss of life.
The delegates wasted no time in booing the president with the mention of his name by Duma whose task was to introduce him to the delegates. They erupted into "Wenzeni uZuma" song with the president smiling uncomfortably. But Duma quickly and effortlessly nipped it in the bud as he appealed to the delegates to be disciplined and allow Ramaphosa to deliver his message.
Duma reasoned with delegates, pointing out that the province will not make bones about its unhappiness of how happy it was about the sentencing and labeled the treatment as persecution of Zuma by the justice system.
"We will give comrade President Ramaphosa who has come to make remarks in this watershed conference and as disciplined members of the movement will behave because he will understand that the issues of the province will be addressed," said Duma.
He warned that if delegates become disruptive and heckles the president that would make the headlines and undermine all the positives from the conference such as the adoption of credentials in the record time of 10 minutes, a rare feat in ANC conferences.
Ramaphosa addressing the delegates applauded for hosting a peaceful conference, saying other provinces must take a leaf from them.
"What I want you to say is that you have chosen leadership and I want to say that I pledge, I pledge myself to be able to work with them, to work together with our comrades who have been elected, based on trust, based on corporation (and) based on working together to advance the interests of the African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal.
"So they are going to be my very first point of contact. If there are any issues I am going to hear from them first," he said.
After delivering the speech, Ramaphosa declined to take any questions from hour who swarmed him as he head to his convoy outside the venue.
