Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe.
- ANC chairwoman Gwede Mantashe has warned party leaders not to publicly criticize the party, saying such actions leaked to members, causing deep divisions.
- Mantashe also warned that there was a growing culture of people who believed the province was better off without the ANC in the Free State.
- Mantashe said the provincial education department should be commended for achieving the best matric results despite the fact that the province’s governance capacity is non-existent.
ANC national chairman Gwede Mantashe has warned against a growing culture of party leaders going out in public and writing the organization’s obituary whenever they feel wronged or don’t like certain things within the ANC.
Mantashe was giving the keynote address at the ANC’s 9th Free State Elective Conference currently underway in Bloemfontein.
He said: “What is a bad trend growing in the ANC is this ability for an ANC leader like me to take a public platform and insult the ANC and almost write an obituary for the ANC, saying by 2024 we are finished as a party. . .
“How can we end when all of us [ANC members] are they still around? The ANC cannot be finished by 2024 if there are still so many of us and we still believe in the organization,” Mantashe said.
He added that the growing culture was that when leaders felt aggrieved, they no longer sought to compromise with each other until solutions were found, but instead fled to seek greener pastures in other parties.
“Us [ANC members] afraid of Mickey-Mouse parties that are small instead of focusing on revamping our own organization,” Mantashe said.
He urged delegates at the packed Imvelo Safari Lodge, where the ANC in the Free State is hosting its conference, to use the two days to try to reach agreement on organizational issues and not further divide the already divided province.
He warned that there were people in the province who benefited from a weakened and divided ANC to the point that they were actively trying to make sure the conference did not take place.
READ | ANC Free State conference sees 6 people arrested after clashes with law enforcement
Mantashe was referring to the serious delays that marred the start of the conference, which was supposed to start on Friday but started a day later.
This was due to disgruntled party members who alleged that delegates elected at the branch level have since been replaced by those who oversee the organization of the province’s conference.
The aggrieved parties then went on a rampage, disrupting the registration process.
Mantashe was hard on the provincial leaders and the Free State structures of the party.
He said, “I got here yesterday [Friday] at 10:00 and I was having breakfast and ready to give the keynote address and the process was physically delayed because some people tried to disrupt the process,” Mantashe said.
Prayers are good for you people of the Free State because you really need them.
He added that the disruptions and actions by members on the ground that resulted in the arrest of six people and numerous injuries reflected poor leadership.
“When I came here I identified an inherent risk, which is already a culture here in this province, that of people who believe that it is better that there is no ANC in the province.
“Any attempt to rebuild the ANC is challenged in court or through disruption of ANC events by such people and we must guard against comrades who are hell-bent on making sure there are leaders who want to make sure there is no ANC around All coast”. in this province,” Mantashe said.
Despite the scathing attack, Mantashe praised the province for once again receiving the best matrix results.
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He said that the fact that the province continued to receive such a result despite not having adequate and appropriate provincial and regional structures was a demonstration of what the party could achieve if it acts together.
Mantashe said the newly elected Provincial Executive (PEC) needs to focus on three key areas as they emerge from this elective conference.
“The PEC must urgently review the demarcation of the municipality and ensure that it makes sense and is not just a homework exercise as it currently was.
“Number two, we need to address the problem that in the Free State there is no municipality that has a clean audit. It is this province and the North West that have zero clean audits,” Mantashe said.
He added that the province must “access the capacity of the provincial treasury and address the leakage of State resources.”
