The Provincial Executive Committees of the ANC in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal successfully fended a fierce attempt by a Fikile Mbalula to have them disbanded.
Following a heated two-day meeting, the party decided to reconfigure the structures instead.
The party is yet to announce the decision formally stating it first had to brief structures in the affected provinces.
Although the party lost support across the country in the 2024 general elections, its National Executive Committee has singled out the two provinces as having lost the most votes and sought to intervene to avoid further decline.
The NEC held a heated two-day meeting in Boksburg over the weekend where members reportedly engaged in discussions of what needed to be done.
Those who were opposed to the disbandment of the two provinces argued that President Cyril Ramaphosa, his fellow officials and the entire elections NEC had to take responsibility for the defeat.
The ANC dropped to 40 percent in the last elections, from 57 percent in 2019, losing its parliamentary majority for the first time and ending up forming a coalition with right-wing parties DA, Freedom Front + and Patriotic Alliance much to the dismay of left leaning forces within the liberation movement.
Sources within the ANC said Secretary General Fikile Mbalula had been leading the group pushing for disbandment of the two provinces but found it hard to convince the NEC with some arguing for reinforcement of the structures.
National Spokesperson Mahlengi Bengu-Motsiri underplayed the tensions.
“I would say it was quite a robust discussion quite frankly characterised by collegiality I’m sure you would have seen NEC members who hold different views walking together going to lunch continuing the discussions even during lunch and I think that is a good sign, an indication of an organisation that knows what it is doing,” she said.
Sources within the NEC said the failed attempt weakens Mbalula ahead of the party’s next elective conference scheduled for the year 2027.
Mbalula is believed to be harbouring presidential ambitions and his pursuit of the two provinces is seen as part of an attempt to minimise competition, a claim Mbalula has consistently denied.