President admits party’s mistakes, promises reforms
IN HIS capacity as leader of the governing party, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has admitted that the organisation has made mistakes in the past but was quick to promise a wide range of reforms that would ensure public officials account to the people.
He made this frank admission yesterday during his whirlwind campaign in KwaNdengezi township, west of Durban, before the November 1 local government elections.
The intensive campaign began in Umlazi, south of Durban, where he criss-crossed parts of the township, pleading with voters to give the ANC another five-year mandate to rule the local government sphere.
Among reforms he claimed would be enacted to ensure the best members were deployed to public office were having rigorous interviews for their mayoral candidates.
“Our mayor (of eThekwini metro) will come out of a group of a few people who would be interviewed by a panel that will ask them what exactly do they intend to do for the public after taking office.
It will no longer be like in the past where the best singer, dancer or toyitoyi leader would become the mayor,” Ramaphosa said in Umlazi.
Gloating about a long list of successes of the governing party since taking power almost 30 years ago, Ramaphosa told his party’s faithful that the developments they were seeing around them were because of the ANC and if they wanted to see more, they must retain them.
On the social safety net front, Ramaphosa said he had been all over the African continent and South Africa was the country with the best social grants system which took care of childhood from birth to university – all that is courtesy of a government-run by the ANC.
Turning to Covid-19 relief schemes, Ramaphosa said the government introduced a variety of grants, including the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant to cushion the unemployed from the blows of the pandemic.
However, his claim that every affected person was getting the assistance was met with disapproval from the very same crowd of ANC supporters who had earlier warmly welcomed him and his ANC delegation.
“Where is that money? We are not getting it,” someone shouted from the vociferous crowd that gestured that they were not getting the grant.
Ramaphosa quickly contained the situation by telling the crowd that about 12 million people applied for the grant and there were still ongoing processes to ensure all deserving applicants received it.
Ramaphosa, later in KwaNdengezi township, introduced the governing party’s candidates and pleaded with the residents to vote for them.
He assured party members that where men dominated the candidates for wards, the proportional representatives seats would be given to women.
It was during his address in KwaNdenegezi that he admitted the ANC had been found wanting in the recent past and it would mend its ways.
“Our manifesto is clear, it is straightforward, we are saying in our manifesto, yes, in the recent past we have made some mistakes,” he admitted.
Reading the riot act to their councillor candidates, he told them the time for self-enrichment and looting of public funds for self-enrichment was over.