THE ANC in KwaZulu-Natal said party General-Secretary Fikile Mbalula has boosted its morale by commending the provincial structure, under the leadership of Jeff Radebe and Mike Mabuyakhulu, for its “good work” in rebuilding its support base.
In his visit to the province early this week, Mbalula told the media that despite the party having lost some of the recent by-elections, “the comrades (in the Provincial Executive Committee) led by Jeff and Mike have done a good job in a short space of time since they were appointed and the national leadership will continue supporting them”.
The ANC’s National Executive Committee appointed Radebe and Mabuyakhulu as convenor and coordinator, respectively, of a reconfigured structure, which accommodates its former provincial chairperson, Siboniso Duma, and former provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo.
The party’s provincial spokesperson Fanle Sibisi said the reconfigured structure was firmly focused on political renewal, organisational unity, and regaining the confidence of the people through credible, visible, and accountable leadership.
The outcome of last year’s general elections dealt the party a blow when it lost power to govern the provincial government, a situation that forced it to co-govern with the Democratic Alliance (DA), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), and National Freedom Party (NFP).
The dwindling ANC support had been attributed to the formation of the former president Jacob Zuma-led Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), which, in addition to scoring more votes than its competitors in the general elections, continued to perform successfully in the by-elections.
Sibisi said the party continues to focus on its historical mission to rebuild itself “from the ground up – through listening campaigns, credible candidate selection processes, and rooting out gatekeeping and factionalism”.
“Our strategy is not premised on what other organisations do or how they perform.
“Where we erred, we are correcting; where we were absent, we are returning; and where trust was lost, we are rebuilding it brick by brick,” he said.
The party’s dismal performance was also attributed to the poor service delivery, maladministration, and corruption in the municipalities it governed.
Sibisi said since poor service delivery undermined its support recovery mission, the provincial structure was currently conducting assessments to get a fact-based picture of the state of all municipalities, “not only those led by the ANC”. “Thereafter, we will roll out decisive interventions to assist struggling municipalities.
“This will, among other things, entail ensuring the accountability of all our deployees, including mayors, councillors, and other municipal office bearers,” he said.
Another elephant in the room was the Health and Education departments, which are led by ANC MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Mngadi and Sipho Hlomuka, respectively. These departments have been accused of failing to pay service providers in time, leading to some emerging businesses that depend on government tenders struggling to survive.
Sibisi said it was disingenuous to categorise these departments as ANC-led, as they were part of the Government of Provincial Unity (GPU), which he said the ANC was confident that it was dealing with their challenges.
“The ANC plays a constructive role in this regard,” said Sibisi.
He also said the ANC was determined to address the issue of KwaDukuza Municipality, which, under its Mayor Ali Ngidi, had been marred by allegations of embezzling ratepayers’ money to the tune of more than R35 million and a lack of service delivery.
“The ANC is determined to resolve the KwaDukuza matter speedily to ensure municipal stability and continue to improve service delivery.
“With the investigation ongoing, the ANC is careful not to act with irresponsible haste that may undermine both the integrity of this process and its outcome. “Shortly, the ANC will announce its findings and its decisions on the matter,” he said.
Political analyst Mpumelelo Zikalala said political parties could only resolve their challenges after having done a thorough assessment of where they had gone wrong.
“The rebuilding consists of going back to the branches and checking what went wrong and even checking how many members you still have.
“If there are no more branch members, then you start from scratch,” he said.
Zikalala said parties should always ensure that they are shining where they govern by making sure that employees do the work they are employed for to the satisfaction of the people.
However, he absolved the ANC of being solely blamed for the late payment of service providers, saying the implicated departments account to the GPU rather than individual parties, as this might be a result of a budget constraint.
He said all political parties in the GPU should make it their responsibility to explain the government’s financial situation to the public.
“Yes, the ANC should do that because the MECs of these two departments belong to it, but the premier should do the same because anything that happens is attributed to him, so he would be asked what he does to come up with a solution,” said Zikalala.
