Back to drawing board for ANC in Bay metro

FRESH from electoral defeat in Nelson Mandela Bay, the ANC will train its members on how to craft a programme to be an effective opposition in the metro.

This after the ANC lost control of the metro to the DA in the recent local government elections.

The party also wants to bring about much-needed stability to the region – which has operated without a proper leadership structure since the the previous regional executive was disbanded in November 2014.

The party has given the regional task team (RTT) 90 days to convene an elective conference.

The same deadline to hold a conference has been given to the Amathole region.

ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) member and RTT deployee Andile Lungisa said the first step would be to teach branch members how to conduct themselves as the official opposition in council.

This follows an ANC PEC decision at Calata House in King William’s Town last week.

This is considered a huge task for ANC members in the region as it would be at this long-overdue elective conference where delegates would have to craft a clear road map on how the party hopes to regain support.

Both the Nelson Mandela and Amathole regions were due to elect leaders last year, but the PEC instructed them to shelve the programmes until after the August 3 elections. Lungisa confirmed to the Dispatch yesterday that they were currently busy with the verification of membership.

“Once we deal with that the RTT will have to craft a programme in preparation for an elective conference. The PEC has given both the Nelson Mandela and Amathole region 90 days to hold elective conferences,” he said.

Lungisa said preparation for the conference would include “politicising the general membership on the role we have to play as the official opposition in council.

“The major task is to shift the thinking of our members so that the tactics we adopt at the conference give us a clear guidance on how to win back Nelson Mandela in 2019 and 2021,” Lungisa added.

Similar verification processes of membership have also started in the Amathole region.

Amathole regional secretary Terice Ntutu said: “Once we deal with membership verification, we will await a go ahead from the PEC to tell us to start branch general meetings.”