ANC branch issues still unresolved
Elections manipulated – claims
TRIPARTITE alliance partners – the SACP and Cosatu – in KwaZulu-Natal yesterday said the strength of the ANC could not be measured just by holding a successful provincial general council (PGC) meeting while issues at the branches had not been resolved.
This follows ANC provincial chairperson Sihle Zikalala’s remarks that talks of divisions in the party had been denounced during the meeting in Empangeni at the weekend.
Edwin Mkhize, Cosatu’s provincial secretary-general, said although the ANC may feel it had emerged stronger and bolder from the PGC meeting, there were many other underlying and unresolved issues.
“I don’t think you must look at a meeting and say you have emerged out of it stronger or bolder when, if you go down to the branches, you still have people saying they did not have the opportunity to hold branch general meetings to elect the delegates to attend the PGC,” Mkhize said.
Among some of the issues raised by the branches was that even processes to elect the leadership at the branches were manipulated, he pointed out.
“For me, it’s a question of whether those issues have been resolved entirely or not. We cannot measure an organisation by coming out of a PGC and saying it has emerged stronger and bolder,” Mkhize said.
“There are several branches that have approached us, which we have previously referred to the ANC, where comrades were complaining about people who come there and act arrogantly, and manipulate processes to ensure that certain outcomes emerge,” said Mkhize.
The ANC should instead say it will be able to address such issues, as Cosatu is worried that there were many people who felt isolated from the organisation, he said.
Cosatu, Mkhize said, had also been invited to the PGC meeting and they had sent a delegation of five representatives, although he did not attend the meeting himself.
“We had people who attended on our behalf, led by the deputy provincial chairperson because the PGC was coinciding with our political school, and I was responsible for the political school,” Mkhize said.
They were having a meeting today of the provincial office bearers, who had attended the PGC, where they would get feedback on what had transpired at the PGC, he added.
Themba Mthembu, SACP provincial secretary-general, said the SACP wished Zikalala’s remarks could be true…
“We strongly believe that on top of a wish, you (still) need to build something that is real, because going through the provincial general council, the policy conference and the national conference, we would like to see an ANC that is stronger than it is now,” Mthembu said.
He added that they wanted to see the ANC strong and united on the ground and in the branches, not only in boardrooms and conferences.
“We would like to see what they said being translated at grassroots,” Mthembu said.
With Super Zuma, the ANC’s provincial secretary, recently saying there was a sense of political stability in the province, Mthembu said the SACP appreciated any efforts to bring stability to the province, but “the proof is in the pudding”.
“We strongly emphasise that it will be deeds not words that must define us,” he said.
Mthembu said they had sent five delegates to the PGC, but they would have a provincial council meeting next weekend where they would evaluate everything what had occurred.