Eastern Cape premier and ANC provincial chair Oscar Mabuyane has warned members against purging of rivals in the aftermath of contesting bruising elective conferences and filling of municipal positions along factional lines — in some instances without the required qualifications.
Addressing leaders and members, including mayors and top municipal officials, at the party’s provincial elections strategy workshop at the East London ICC on Tuesday, Mabuyane said the ANC-led government wanted to create stability in municipalities ahead of the 2026 local government election.
The party is racing against time to right the wrongs, “but a lot of progress has been recorded despite municipalities being at the coalface of problems”.
“It’s important we create stability in municipalities, and that stability has nothing to do with conferences,” Mabuyane said.
“Conferences are not deployment committes.
“A comment [from members] says ‘we’re instructed to employ the wrong people’. Why do we do that? Why do we start caucuses to have mayors employ people who are not qualified?”
The party had taken a decision to employ competent individuals.
“You don’t want to do trial and error in the process when time is against us, comrades,” Mabuyane said.
He warned members against purging others after conferences, saying they could not think about removing each other simply because of differences that emerged during conferences.
The party had its own process for removing officials.
“When that time comes, there must be a justification — a proper reason — why that action must happen,” he said.
“We can’t simply change people because we’ve had a conference. Unless people don’t want to work in the ANC.”
Mabuyane said the ANC could not accept arrogant deployees who did not respect the party’s structures.
Members made a choice to contest a conference and if they lost, they should be disciplined members, subjecting themselves to the leadership.
He stressed the importance of having senior officials such as mayors and chief whips leading by example.
“If there can’t be cohesion in the troika, how are we going to do this thing? If mayors can’t report to the structures they’re supposed to be accountable to, just like a ward councillor, it can’t work like that.
“Ward councillors must report to the BEC [branch executive committee] in the ward, similarly as you go up, so that we're able to arrest all the funny and foreign tendencies.”
Mabuyane highlighted the progress made by the provincial administration, citing the auditor-general’s report that all government departments in the Eastern Cape were unqualified, with six of them receiving clean audits.
“That’s not a fluke; it’s hard work and stability in the provincial administration that allows for consequence management when people don’t do their work.”
Despite successes, Mabuyane acknowledged that the ANC-led government faced a huge task.
Though the ANC had its fair share of challenges to deal with, he was confident it could self-correct.
“Let’s go back to branches, ready to reclaim lost ground, inspire new voters, fight the battle of ideas and deliver practical change to our rural and urban areas.”
Daily Dispatch
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