Deputy Chairperson, Cde Mlungisi Mvoko
Members of the PEC,
Leadership of our Revolutionary Alliance,
Leadership of our Leagues,
Good afternoon.
Comrades let me take this opportunity to welcome you to our Extended Provincial Executive Committee meeting. Since the conclusion of the 2021 Local Government Elections, we have been busy preparing to form councils in the Municipalities that we will govern in our Province. This work has entailed engaging in negotiations for hung municipalities, particulalry the Nelson Mandela Metro. The election results in that Metro once again point to a coalition government and it is in the interest of the ANC as a leader of society to ensure that there is a government that works better for the people of Nelson Mandela Metro.
That Metro is very strategic for our Provincial Developmental Goals and should therefore not fall in the wrong hands. We cannot ignore the fact that in Nelson Mandela Metro 207 000 people voted for our organisation and those voters expect us to do everything in our power to be the government that will serve their interests and the entire population of that metro. We will receive an update on the negotiations that have happened to form government in 3 hung councils we in the Province . We also note that there are some who are negotiating in bad faith because they want to use the coalition negotiations to smuggle their failed manifestos.
The second task we have been seized with is interviews for Speakers, Mayors and Deputy Mayors who will be deployed in various municipalities of our province. I would like to record our utmost appreciation to all members of the ANC and our Allies for ensuring the success of that process. We all know that there were teething challenges with regard to this piloted meritocracy approach anc has adopted as part of its renewal agenda ,but in the end the process has been completed and we will received that comprehensive report now as the extended PEC .
Comrades this new process of submitting qualifications and interviews is part of the renewal process of our organisation and it is inevitable for the mordenisation of our glorious movement . It is part of what we committed to do to the electorate in our Manifesto when we said we will “choose the best cadres to run municipalities”. This approach will apply to Provincial Government and National Government too going forward because the ANC has no choice but to strengthen its capacity to lead in government.
I wish to commend the comrades who oversaw the interview process for handling that task professionally and with the highest integrity. You have served the movement well and you are a good example of how we should all handle the tasks that are given to us by the ANC. We believe the outcomes of that process will reflect that indeed our movement is strengthening leadership and accountability in local government.
Where there are concerns comrades about the process and out comes , guidelines allow us to solicit clarity from convenors of the interviewing panels. We believe that ANC is on the right path , as this process will surely help us to eradicate any form or possibility of manipulation , interference and gate keeping. Indeed there is no room for factions , anarchy and the days of anarchists are numbered in the life of the ANC moving forward .
Having completed that process, together with the process of interviewing Mayors for Metros which will be announced by the NEC, we can safely say we are ready to form councils in our province by the IEC deadline time frame . The hard work then begins of fulfilling the commitments we have made in our Manifesto. All Mayors and Councillors will sign performance contracts and agreements with the ANC because they will be implementing an ANC Manifesto in those councils. We expect to see a seamless process in the appointment of Mayoral Committee Members, a process that will also resemble the principle of “choosing the best cadres to run municipalities”.
All deployed comrades must understand and internalize that their deployments to the councils are purely for the work of carrying out the tasks of fundamentally transforming our society into a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. They must understand that they are there to serve the people wholeheartedly and selflessly without expectation of material gain or personal benefit. We are deploying them there to advance, deepen and defend the gains of the national democratic revolution in the critical terrain of local government.
Our deployees must know that we will not hesitate to take action against any of them who carry out themselves in a manner that is against the aims and objectives of the ANC. We will not hesitate, as we have done before in the previous term, to remove any of them who act in a manner that works against the interests of the people they are deployed to serve. As we have done before, we will ensure that we uphold the principle that no-one is above the ANC and above the people who have elected us into government and that the ANC was formed to serve.
As the ANC at all levels of the organisation, we are duty bound to provide adequate support to our comrades that are going to be deployed to ensure that they are able to carry out the tasks given to them.
Now that the elections are over, the process of forming councils should also be completed in the next two weeks. We must once again commend ANC cadres, alliance and the mass democratic movement as a whole for putting out a united front in the election campaign. We wish to see this unity and vibrancy that we witnessed ahead of the elections again as we continue to advance our shared NDR.
We must now begin the process of preparing for regional conferences and the provincial conference comrades as required by the ANC constitution. We have since adopted the road map and deadlines for these conferences respectively. We will make sure that they are convened as soon as possible to normalise the situation in our structures .
Covid-19 and local government elections have delayed our conferences and it would have been irresponsible of us to risk the lives of ANC Members by hosting conferences amid a deadly virus, hence the nec guidance on conferences . We also took the right decision of postponing conferences to focus on the election to ensure a united ANC campaign. But work must be expedited to return the organisation to its rightful owners, the branches, for them to decide how to move the organisation forward on policies and on leadership in preparation for the national policy and elective conferences next year
This work must be done within the spirit of unity and respect for ANC guidelines. We have all worked hard to build and maintain unity in our province and we should not allow conferences to undo the work we have done. Conferences are an old age democratic process in our movement, they are not a new phenomenon and they do not have to be a source of our division. Branches should be prepared properly for all the conferences we are going to, and we do not want to see violence in our conferences and in meetings that are preparing for them, we want to see vibrant festival of ideas among ANC cadres.
We must know comrades that as we go to conferences, the eyes of the people of our province will be on how we handle ourselves. The ANC is not for us, it is for the masses of our people many of whom are not even card-carrying members but are loyal ANC voters who pin their hopes and dreams on the ANC.
Once again, I take this opportunity to thank every one of you for contributing to the decisive electoral victory of the ANC in these recent local government elections here in our Province . The people have spoken in our province and have once more unequivocal affirmed their support for the African National Congress headed alliance.
We dare not fail them!
Thank you very much comrades!
Amandlaaaa!!!
