Eastern Cape ANC chair Oscar Mabuyane has urged delegates at the ANC's Joe Gqabi regional elective conference to prioritise the needs of the people over factional interests, warning that the region's future depends on it.
Addressing the conference in Maletswai (formerly Aliwal North) on Friday, Mabuyane said the region was “bleeding from unemployment, underdevelopment and poor service delivery”.
Joe Gqabi, with 45 branches, is the ANC's second-smallest region in the Eastern Cape, after Sarah Baartman.
It comprises the Elundini, Senqu and Walter Sisulu municipalities.
Regional task team co-ordinator Vikitha Dontsa, who is running for a second term as regional secretary, will face off against Lusanda Pati, his former deputy in the previous term.
The region's former chair and Joe Gqabi district mayor Nomvuyo Mposelwa is seeking a second term in office and will battle it out with her former deputy Mfundo Bongela for the chair position.
Former regional treasurer Nonkongozelo Lengs will vie for the deputy chair position against Senqu mayor Velile Stokwe, while former regional executive committee (REC) member and ANC MPL Sweetness Mbonyana will face Simphiwe Mdoda, the portfolio head of infrastructure at Elundini municipality, for the deputy secretary position.
Joe Gqabi finance portfolio head Unathi Hlathuka and former REC member Mzimkhulu Plaatjie will both contest for the regional treasurer position.
Mabuyane expressed concern about the challenges that arose during ANC conferences, from the regional to the national level, which were often marred by delays.
The region's conference was no exception.
“Leadership contestation is not a sin, but rather a feature of vibrant internal democracy,” Mabuyane said.
“However, once leadership has been elected, there can be no space for factionalism masquerading as principle.
“We cannot afford a situation where the ANC emerges from conference weakened by wounded egos, with one group celebrating and another retreating into bitterness.
“The true victors of the conference must always be the people and the mission must remain the same: to build a strong, responsive, people-centred ANC that occupies every ward, every branch, every street and every struggle in the Joe Gqabi region.”
Mabuyane highlighted the region's poor economic performance, saying Joe Gqabi contributed only R19bn to the Eastern Cape's GDP in the previous financial year, the smallest share of any district.
“These are the politics you should concern yourself about in Joe Gqabi, politics of development,” he told delegates.
Unemployment in the district had surged from 24.9% to over 39.2% between 2010 and 2020.
“This is not just joblessness,” Mabuyane said.
“It is intergenerational trauma. It is economic dispossession. That is the politics that this conference should discuss, not factional agendas.”
According to Mabuyane, the region's poor economic profile demands more than ceremonial leadership.
“It cries out for a corps of leaders grounded in political economy, schooled in developmental planning and attuned to the nuances of both local production capacity and global capital flows,” he said.
“True leaders in this moment can turn this terrain of despair into a crucible of innovation, dignity, and economic emancipation.
“The hour is late, the tide is rising and the old politics of slogans and ideological mastery will not save us.
“We must elect leaders who understand the geoeconomic context, who can anticipate supply chain disruptions, and who know what it means when interest rates spike globally or when export revenues collapse due to tariff walls.”
Daily Dispatch
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