Not all ANC provincial executive members pulled weight – Hanekom
The outgoing ANC Western Cape (ANCWC) executive committee could not be given full marks, says Minister of Tourism Derek Hanekom.
“We do not give them 10 out of 10 as the national executive committee (NEC),” said Hanekom.
“Some PEC (provincial executive committee) members worked very hard. Some were constantly absent when we needed them.”
Hanekom, a member of the ANC NEC, was a convener and keynote speaker at the eighth provincial conference at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Bellville at the weekend.
He also highlighted the financial challenges faced by the ANCWC.
“You have to look after your finances so that you have finances,” said Hanekom.
“Your secretary has to ensure that membership and offices are fully functional.”
However, Hanekom did congratulate the outgoing PEC on bringing stability to provincial structures. He said the party could win back the province if all the internal challenges were tackled.
“We can win the metro, of course we can,” said Hanekom. “But it is not going to be an easy road.”
Meanwhile, delegates at the elective provincial conference warned that the party could not afford corruption in its ranks as they prepared to vote in a new leadership to steer it to the 2016 local government elections.
The conference, delayed by about nine hours due to a flawed accreditation process, began with messages of support from the provincial branches of the ANC Women’s League and ANC Youth League ( ANCYL) as well as the ANC’s alliance partners.
All speakers had strong messages for the incoming PEC.
Among them were representatives from Cosatu, the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) and the SACP.
“We need youth leaders who are clean, who are not corrupt,” said ANCYL provincial leader Muhammad Khalid Sayed, who declared the structure’s support for the incoming leadership.
MKMVA provincial chairperson Zola Nqofe said the incoming PEC had been mandated with winning back the Western Cape from the DA.
“We did not lose this province to the Democratic Alliance, we gave it to them. And in the same way we gave it to them, we must take it back,” he said.
Dan Melapi, Cosatu provincial chairperson, said he hoped the eighth conference would end on a unifying note.
“I fear that like in previous conferences we will walk out of this conference divided,” Melapi said.
The representative from the SACP, Barry Mitchell, said it was time to end “bloodsucking corruption” within the ANC, as well as ending the provincial rule of the “white supremacists”, as he termed the DA, before accusing it of “continuing to spin a pro-poor persona”.