Tensions remained high among ANC factions in the Dr WB Rubusana region on Saturday despite efforts by national party chair Gwede Mantashe to ease them.
Mantashe addressed a special regional general council in the region and presented a party discussion paper titled “ANC Renewal to Advance Freedom Charter: Forward to a National Democratic Society Based on Social Justice, Shared Prosperity and Human Solidarity”, before the ANC’s national general council to be held in December.
With just a week to go before the region’s conference, Mantashe berated ANC members for fighting among themselves.
He denounced the conduct of some Buffalo City Metro ANC councillors who attempted to pass a motion of no confidence against their comrade mayor Princess Faku last month, saying such behaviour “does not belong to the party”.
“Once ANC members deployed by the party fight in a meeting, those are no longer ANC members. You can’t belong together and hate each other with passion,” he said.
I’m part of the GNU, which you don’t understand here
He warned branch members about the consequences of divisions, which he said drove voters away, and cautioned about the risks of losing a majority and being forced to govern through coalitions.
Mantashe drew on the example of the ANC at national level, which governed through the government of national unity (GNU).
“I’m part of the GNU, which you don’t understand here.
“You have not experienced governing through consensus with other parties, where you even canvass something that was never negotiated in the past, such as passing the budget,” he said.
“You are seeing the GNU from a distance, and you don’t think it will happen to you.
“But if you carry on like this, divided, you will divide society and a divided society is not going to vote for you.”
He urged the regional leaders to resolve their differences and persuade one another to work together.
After Mantashe’s speech, Faku, who serves as a regional co-ordinator, urged delegates to heed Mantashe’s advice.
“The chair [Mantashe] is correct; let us not fight in public. “When we disagree, we must resolve our differences in private,” she said.
However, despite Mantashe’s efforts, several branch members used the question-and-answer session to air frustrations about party processes, unresolved branch disputes before the regional conference and the exclusion of certain delegates from the special regional general council.
The session became heated when some delegates were advised to take their grievances back to their branches.
ANC councillor Vuyokazi Siboyana questioned the very existence of such branches.
Her remarks drew the ire of Mantashe, who questioned her presence at the meeting if she was not representing a branch.
He warned delegates against using ANC meetings to advance factional agendas, driven by branches “for sale” and votes bought with money.
Glaring divisions in the region, along factional lines, have been the order of the day in recent months, with ANC comrades divided among those supporting Faku and those aligned to her former ally, Antonio Carels.
However, ANC NEC member Mzwandile Masina, addressing the City Hall gathering, called for party unity in BCM, telling those in attendance: “We cannot be in the revolution while we do not love each other, while we do not embrace each other as comrades.”
Speaking to the Dispatch on the sidelines of the gathering, ANC PEC member Siyabulela Zangqa said the health of the ANC regions within the province was being endangered by members with different preferences.
Zangqa confirmed there were many issues emanating from branch meetings, but advised that proper party channels should be followed in dealing with them.
He said the province was satisfied with the work done so far by the Dr WB Rubusana regional branches, so a date for the regional conference, which had been postponed numerous times, had been set.
On Saturday a number of disgruntled party members were locked outside the City Hall and were not allowed in as they were not delegates to the upcoming conference, which sits this weekend.
This is a result of some branches having unresolved disputes emanating from their branch meetings in preparation for the conference.
All the ANC regions in the province held their regional general council meetings at the weekend, with top national party leaders, including deputy president Paul Mashatile — who addressed the Amathole region’s general council in Komga on Saturday — visiting the province.
Daily Dispatch
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