'ANC in KZN is destroyed'

National chairperson of the ANC Gwede Mantashe has spoken out about the state of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, saying the party is destroyed and needs to be rebuilt from scratch.

He however dispelled any possibilities that the rebuilding process could lead to the current leadership structure of the party in the province being disbanded.

Speaking to the SABC on Monday following the discussion of the Nation Working committee (NWC) that discussed the state of the party in KwaZulu-natal, Mantashe did not mince his words and said the ANC has been destroyed.

Speaking on the recommendation of the NWC regarding the state of the party in KwaZulu-natal, he said, "In KZN we must rebuild the organisation from scratch, it's destroyed."

He said the objective would be to rebuild not to disband the structures, "not disbandment, rebuilding. You know sometimes people think that to rebuild you must disband. It is not the best option, we have tried that many times. It is so difficult to build from disbandment but if you build from the rubble, that is there you build faster. It must be rebuilt, that was where we were hurt by (Jacob) Zuma.

Zuma, a former ANC president, formed the MK Party to contest the May 29 general elections. His party took the lion's share of the vote in KwaZulu-natal, relegating the ANC to being the third biggest party in the province, from being the biggest party.

The leadership of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has also been under intense scrutiny even heading to the elections, it had been reported that the national leadership was not happy with the current leaders.

The provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo has also been involved in a number of public spats, latest being with the ANC's alliance partner Nehawu.