ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe lashed out at Eastern Cape ANC members at the weekend saying factionalism was being put ahead of the party and that a stampede of presidential hopefuls had signalled the death of self-control and discipline in the ANC.
Addressing hundreds of ANC members at KwaNomzamo community hall in Humansdorp, where he delivered the OR Tambo memorial lecture, Mantashe said he had noted that Eastern Cape members only attended party activities organised by their preferred candidate for provincial leadership.
Mantashe said Eastern Cape members were no longer attending all party activities, just those organised by backers of either Phumulo Masualle or Oscar Mabuyane, who will go head to head at the ANC provincial conference to be held in East London next weekend.
Mantashe said: “I have noted that all of a sudden when there is an ANC activity comrades are not coming in their numbers because we have split ourselves into two.
“Some are calling themselves bamanxadanxada and other are a ‘train’ .
“Something is wrong when comrades are not attending a meeting because it has been organised by Scara therefore it must be about the train .
He singled out the absence from the memorial lecture of former provincial health MEC Sicelo Gqobana, who is also a ANC branch secretary in the Sarah Baartman region.
“There is nothing wrong when you lobby for a different candidate but everything is wrong when you can no longer attend party activities and you attend meetings based on whose faction organises it,” Mantashe said.
Turning to the party’s national succession race, Mantashe said the ANC conference in December would be a difficult one.
“There is a stampede of everyone raising their hands wanting to be the president and that shows the death of self-control and discipline in the organisation.
“The last time the ANC had so many contestants for the position of the president was in 1952 when they were contesting Chief Albert Luthuli. We cannot have the same thing in 2017,” he said.
Mantashe said he hoped that when nominations began on September 1 many of those who had raised their hands for the presidential position would step aside.
Mantashe added that he had turned down lobbyists who wanted him to stand as a deputy for presidential hopeful Cyril Ramaphosa.
He said: “I told them that it is going to fail on two counts.
“First the expectation for the ANC in 2017 is for Ramaphosa to have female deputy president. The ANC won’t accept all-male presidency.
“Secondly, Ramaphosa and I were together in NUM . You may think people don’t care about that but it will come out,” he said.
Mantashe called on ANC leaders to have controllable ambitions that were about putting the interests of the organisation first.
“Those who have presidential ambitions should know that they have a responsibility to unify the ANC,” he said.
He quoted OR Tambo saying: “We did not tear ourselves apart because of lack of progress at times.
“We were always ready to accept our mistakes and correct them, above all we succeeded to force and defend the unity of ANC and the unity of the people in general.”
He said when ANC members nominated leaders they could not just come together and pronounce on who they wanted. He said they must scrutinise everyone using the Through the Eye of a Needle document. — DDC
Mantashe bemoans factionalism in EC
Addressing hundreds of ANC members at KwaNomzamo community hall in Humansdorp, where he delivered the OR Tambo memorial lecture, Mantashe said he had noted that Eastern Cape members only attended party activities organised by their preferred candidate for provincial leadership.
Mantashe said Eastern Cape members were no longer attending all party activities, just those organised by backers of either Phumulo Masualle or Oscar Mabuyane, who will go head to head at the ANC provincial conference to be held in East London next weekend.
Mantashe said: “I have noted that all of a sudden when there is an ANC activity comrades are not coming in their numbers because we have split ourselves into two.
“Some are calling themselves bamanxadanxada and other are a ‘train’ .
“Something is wrong when comrades are not attending a meeting because it has been organised by Scara therefore it must be about the train .
He singled out the absence from the memorial lecture of former provincial health MEC Sicelo Gqobana, who is also a ANC branch secretary in the Sarah Baartman region.
“There is nothing wrong when you lobby for a different candidate but everything is wrong when you can no longer attend party activities and you attend meetings based on whose faction organises it,” Mantashe said.
Turning to the party’s national succession race, Mantashe said the ANC conference in December would be a difficult one.
“There is a stampede of everyone raising their hands wanting to be the president and that shows the death of self-control and discipline in the organisation.
“The last time the ANC had so many contestants for the position of the president was in 1952 when they were contesting Chief Albert Luthuli. We cannot have the same thing in 2017,” he said.
Mantashe said he hoped that when nominations began on September 1 many of those who had raised their hands for the presidential position would step aside.
Mantashe added that he had turned down lobbyists who wanted him to stand as a deputy for presidential hopeful Cyril Ramaphosa.
He said: “I told them that it is going to fail on two counts.
“First the expectation for the ANC in 2017 is for Ramaphosa to have female deputy president. The ANC won’t accept all-male presidency.
“Secondly, Ramaphosa and I were together in NUM . You may think people don’t care about that but it will come out,” he said.
Mantashe called on ANC leaders to have controllable ambitions that were about putting the interests of the organisation first.
“Those who have presidential ambitions should know that they have a responsibility to unify the ANC,” he said.
He quoted OR Tambo saying: “We did not tear ourselves apart because of lack of progress at times.
“We were always ready to accept our mistakes and correct them, above all we succeeded to force and defend the unity of ANC and the unity of the people in general.”
He said when ANC members nominated leaders they could not just come together and pronounce on who they wanted. He said they must scrutinise everyone using the Through the Eye of a Needle document. — DDC
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