ANC must listen, says Blade
THE ANC should think long and hard about convening an early conference to elect its new leadership as it could entrench disunity within the tripartite alliance and result in winners inheriting a “shell organisation”.
Rather, the conference should be a consultative one aimed at unifying the alliance and reach agreement, “if possible, on the transition to a new leadership”.
The stern warning and suggestion came from the SACP leadership yesterday, following its central committee meeting in Johannesburg at the weekend.
It noted the ANC Youth League’s call for an early elective conference and dismissed it as “entirely factional”.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has reportedly said the early conference call was not a bad idea and was being discussed.
The SACP said it wanted the consultative conference to be addressed by “senior and respected veterans of our movement”, as they wanted to listen to those whose criticism was motivated by a “genuine concern about the future of our movement and our country”, and not by their personal hatred of the ANC.
The youth league made the call for an early elective conference following the ANC’s poor showing in the August 3 municipal election, where its support went down from the 62% it received in the 2011 municipal elections to 54%, its lowest since the dawn of democracy 22 years ago.
This resulted in the ANC losing control of key metros including the capital, Tshwane, Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Bay to the opposition.
SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande warned that unless corrective actions were implemented, “the decline will continue and likely accelerate”, and that growing numbers of South Africans were tired of being taken for granted.
“They believe that ANC formal structures are increasingly inward looking, preoccupied with factional battles and money politics. They believe that the conduct of ANC politicians is often arrogant and aloof,” he said.
The ANC national executive committee (NEC), however, said it was taking collective responsibility for the electoral disaster amid growing calls for President Jacob Zuma to step down.
Nzimande, who is also Higher Education Minister, said the central committee was disappointed at the statement issued by the ANC following its recent NEC meeting as it touched on the same themes that had paralysed the ANC over the years, including gatekeeping, factionalism, corruption and growing distance from the masses.
Nzimande said the people were hoping “for a clear sign of willingness to act decisively against these morbid symptoms”, and that corrupt individuals appeared to enjoy cover.
“An effective consultative conference should also be a unifying space in which we can all reflect upon and take individual and collective responsibility for mistakes we have made.
“We do not exclude the SACP from this self-reflective and responsibility-taking imperative,” said Nzimande.
Meanwhile, ANC Gauteng chairman Paul Mashatile, speaking at the funeral for ANC councillor Nonhlanhla Mthembu, who died after collapsing at the City of Johannesburg meeting to vote in a new leadership, said the ANC had to “fix its problems”.
He said it needed to show that it had heard the “message of the people”and get rid of all ills, including“self-centredness and corruption”.