ANC veteran Joe Jordan, one of the party’s longest serving former MPLs, has called for the provincial structure to rebuke the Dr WB Rubusana region over its list of proportional representation (PR) councillors.
Jordan was addressing more than 300 ANC members who met yesterday at the Mdantsane Indoor Sports Centre.
The members form part of a disgruntled ANC group which held a “cadres’ forum” as part of their attempt to voice their concerns.
“If all of the members who are contained in that ANC regional list can be vetted, most of them would not qualify because they are all thieves,” Jordan said.
“We are calling for the provincial executive committee to vet them starting from number 1, Xola Pakati, and they will see they are all thieves,” he said.
Jordan’s comments come after the region held a list conference electing their preferred list of candidates for PR council seats.
“Credible leaders of the movement were sidelined. Where are we going if we keep on doing things like this?” he asked.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch earlier this week, ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane said the list was not yet finalised, pending perusal by the provincial list committee (PLC).
He said once checked by the PLC, the provincial executive committee would give it the final stamp of approval and had the right to make slight modifications.
ANC veterans at yesterday’s conference – who led the disgruntled group on numerous marches to the regional and provincial ANC offices – presented a document on the state of the party in the region, province and country.
They warned that the party may not do well in the local government elections in August.
“The ANC here is in turmoil and we are approaching the local government elections in this situation. Today we have divisions in Cosatu, the SACP is weak and the biggest trade union Numsa is not part of the alliance,” Jordan said.
The document, authored by five leaders of the group, reads: “We have found ourselves at crossroads, politically and socially. In the province and in some instances nationally.”
Some of their grievances include the FNB ANC membership rigging, the Mandela funeral scandal and the list conference, among others. — siphem@dispatch.co.za