African National Congress (ANC) National Chairman Gwede Montashe says the party will lose power if its members continue to abuse their positions.
Mantashe urged members to protect the ANC brand.
He was addressing delegates at the Lejweleputswa Regional Conference held near Venterburg.
Meanwhile, some ANC delegates were not allowed to attend the conference after a ruckus broke out.
Montashe warned that the politics of the stomach would paralyze the organization. He says despite recent developments where members decided not to participate in the Lejweleputswa Regional Conference, progress has been made in rebuilding the region.
Montashe says that when he visited the region in August, not even a single chapter was in good standing, but today 54 chapters have qualified for the conference.
He says that as a former party secretary he has had to defend legal complaints filed by party members and will do the same again as members threaten to take the party to court.
Montashe says, “Divisions are human behavior. you are working for unity, others are chipping away at small pieces of this disgruntled group coming back, you have to be patient and bring them back”
Montashe also says the party will lose power if members do not work together.
“We will. we might not but we will because power is not a separate locality, power is for the ANC and the ANC is the ANC when we work together. When we break ourselves we give that power away because we want people to elect individuals in the ANC. we have to unite because that’s what makes the ANC the ANC.”
Mantashe urges members to protect the ANC brand:
Some members reported that nine wards have been excluded from the Leyveleputswa Regional Conference as the election results in their wards have not yet been verified.
Friends who tried to attend the conference on the first day, which was a Sunday, are now questioning the legitimacy of the conference. They say, party processes were not followed.
Shima Mahlati was among the delegates of the branch who were outside the conference.
“During these 14 days, the conference meets except for these nine wards. Before we can go anywhere, he tells you that the particular process was unconstitutional; it has blocked so many branches that meet the legal requirements of the African National Congress constitution.”
Incoming chairman Xalile Toki says they will promote the ANC’s mandate.
Apparently, some delegates from the region were not allowed to attend the conference.
“What we can confirm is that all delegates have been invited from all 54 branches that have been vetted, the organizing team and signed by the current Acting General Secretary, Paul Mashatile. They were invited several times. They were invited, but we were still waiting for the inspection report.”
The IPC says it is working to build a solid foundation to pave the way for the provincial conference.
The head of the ANC’s Free State Provincial Interim Committee, Mxolisi Dukwana, condemned the banning actions of these conferences.
“Our own comrades have been self-serving, self-centered and self-centered, effectively damaging the organization’s brand. It is unfortunate and cannot be tolerated going forward and that is what we intend to do by making sure that we do not allow the wrong trends to be masked as if people are genuinely complaining when they know why.”
The IPC says it is awaiting an inspection report from the NEC to hold a provincial conference this weekend.
Two parallel regional conferences were held in Mangaung:
