Government must account to ANC -- Cyril
● ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa used the lekgotla of the party’s national executive committee to stamp his authority as party leader and assert that the ANC is the only centre of power.
In his political overview presented this weekend to the lekgotla, which is meeting to finalise the party’s programme of action for 2018, Ramaphosa also reminded government deployees that they took instructions from, and were accountable to, the ANC.
The lekgotla is being attended by NEC members, deployees in government such as ministers, MECs, MPs and mayors, as well as
by party provincial leaders.
“We must reiterate that the ANC is the strategic centre of power and that those deployed in government receive their mandate from, and are accountable to, the movement,” Ramaphosa said in remarks prepared for delivery.
He told the lekgotla that the ANC must continue holding its deployees accountable for the full implementation of promises made to the electorate.
The man who is also the deputy president of the country acknowledged that the ANC faced a tough electoral contest next year.
“We are in election mode to win, not to lose. It is going to be a difficult election, because the economic situation is a challenging one,” said Ramaphosa.
Also present at the meeting, which is scheduled to conclude today, were members of the other bodies of the tripartite alliance, the SACP and Cosatu.
Ramaphosa was unequivocal that government decisions and policy direction would be spearheaded by the ANC he now leads. He also came down hard on “lazy” ANC deployees, saying the party needed to develop a mechanism to hold leaders in government accountable for their performance.
“I am making the point here that we should not seek to reinvent the wheel and engage in another exercise to come up with new resolutions. I must point it out, as we begin now, that the NEC lekgotla is not the platform for ANC deployees to come and explain how impossible it is for our government to implement certain decisions of our movement,” his prepared remarks read.
He warned those in government to stop publicly contradicting each other on policy issues. “If all of us understand and appreciate this reality, there should be absolutely no space for comrades in government to publicly contradict one another on policy matters and thus feed into the notion of policy uncertainty.”
Ramaphosa said he would continue having meetings with President Jacob Zuma to ensure the ANC was in the driving seat.
“All of us have a responsibility to support the work that is being done to ensure a seamless transition from the fifth administration to the sixth, in a manner that practically affirms that the ANC is indeed the strategic centre of power.”
This week, the phenomenon of two centres of power reared its head when Zuma disregarded a statement by Ramaphosa that Zuma would abide by the high court judgment on the appointment of the head of the NPA.
Zuma is challenging the judgment in the Constitutional Court, arguing that it usurps presidential powers by giving Ramaphosa the authority to appoint the NPA head.
Under Zuma’s tenure, the party and the state were constantly at odds, particularly over economic policy and issues such as land reform and redistribution.
Ramaphosa said they would have to develop “clear, sound and detailed implementation strategies which unambiguously stipulate who must do what, how, when and where”.