The ruling party throws itself a great big party
Behind the scenes factionalism, infighting, protests, dirty wars
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe yesterday read the riot act to ANC structures and supporters in the Madibeng sub-region in North West, ahead of the party’s big 104 years celebration.
The celebration will include the January 8 statement to be delivered today by President Jacob Zuma, which is expected to focus on, among others, the country’s struggling economy, education and the local government elections.
Mantashe scolded local leaders in Madibeng yesterday for allowing the party to be ravaged by infighting, factionalism and dirty wars for municipal tenders.
He warned that with the local government elections taking place this year, it was a period likely to be characterised by fights for councillor jobs and personal interests, describing the phenomena as fuelled by “politics of the stomach”.
“With the list conferences coming up, it is a period of politics of the stomach, where some people will be looking after the interest of individuals and not of the people.
“Others will say it is our time to eat. Others will fight to become councillors. They want to become councillors for all the wrong reasons,” Mantashe said.
Madibeng, a sub-region of Bojanala in the North West including Brits and Mothutlung, has been a thorn in the side of the ruling party as a result of appalling service delivery to residents.
This has resulted in violent service-delivery protests emanating mainly from poor water supply and management, corruption and maladministration.
Mantashe yesterday met with ANC structures, including branches, councillors and alliance partners, to address issues plaguing the region.
In a frank address at the mini-rally in Brits, he said there was a return of a tendency where people involved in the tanker business were sabotaging water pipes so they could get tenders for tankers or repairs of the infrastructure.
According to Mantashe, the people of Madibeng were the ones bearing the brunt of unscrupulous businesspeople and politicians who only sought to benefit financially from crisis.
“The people of Madibeng are the ones who have paid a heavy price from people sabotaging water pipes so they can get tanker contracts.”
He said that incidents of people assaulting each other at ANC meetings were normal in Madibeng, and would escalate in the wake of list conferences where people who would become councillors after the local gover nment elections were seeking to garner votes.
“This is the ANC birthday and it is time to bury all the differences and hatred, and move away from factions.
“The message that we must pass on to our people is that when they get into factions they are doing that at the expense of the organisation first, and at the expense of communities,” said Mantashe.
He urged ANC supporters to come in numbers to fill up the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, as the ANC, in recent years, had struggled to fill venues in North West.
The town of Rustenburg was buzzing, with thousands of ANC supporters descending on it yesterday, though this did little to assure the ruling party of a full house at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium.
In fact, at the Damonsville community hall in Madibeng, Mantashe expressed concern with how the party had a history of not filling venues in that province.
“It’s our chance to prove that North West can fill up the stadium when the ANC comes here,” said Mantashe.
He added that the January 8 statement by Zuma would address challenges faced by the economy and education, and preparations for local government elections.
“Every election is a serious exercise, and this is not going to be an exception. We are going to deal with it as such, and we must win.
“The economy remains a major challenge for us and we will have to talk about it. We must also go out and explain the free education that people talk about and (which) has become a cliché.
“For us it is not just free education – it is free education for the poor. That is what we resolved in Polokwane and that resolution takes our commitment beyond what the Freedom Charter says,” he said.