ANC won’t bow to pressure on appointments — Oscar Mabuyane

ANC Eastern Cape bosses will not be blackmailed or pressured to deploy anyone to government and municipalities.

This was said by ANC provincial chair Oscar Mabuyane while addressing a virtual provincial lekgotla on Sunday.  

He warned that should factionalism continue, it would weaken their chances at beating smaller parties at the polls.

Mabuyane’s sentiments come just days after former Nelson Mandela Bay councillor Andiswa Mama’s lawyers wrote to Calata House, the party’s provincial headquarters in King William’s Town, demanding that she be deployed as a councillor.

This, the lawyers said, was because Mama was listed at number 16 on the proportional representatives’ list in 2016 and should have been deployed to council already after former councillors either died or resigned.

But Mama had been overlooked, they said.

Mabuyane stressed the importance of a united ANC, saying those whose leadership preferences did not emerge victorious in conferences should rally behind those who won.

“Conferences do reveal the true identity and political maturity or lack of it, of cadres and those who are truly committed to the ANC and who did not join it for self-serving purposes will work for the unity of the ANC when their leadership preferences are not chosen by the majority of delegates,” Mabuyane said.

The task ahead was a monumental one and key was winning back Nelson Mandela Bay, he said.

The ANC managed to get 50 seats out of the council’s 120 in 2016.

This made way for a DA, COPE, ACDP and UDM coalition before that was also ousted.

In 2018, the ANC won back the city through a newly formed coalition government with the UDM, AIC, UF and PA which often enjoyed the support of the EFF.

However, it was ousted last December by the city’s third coalition government made up of the DA, ACDP, AIC, UF, UDM and COPE.

Mabuyane said the ANC needed a decisive victory in all municipalities.

“We must liberate the people of the Nelson Mandela metro from the chaos they have endured since 2016,” he said.

“This lekgotla must devise a clear programme to ensure decisive victories in both metros in our province as that is where we will be tested.

“This means we will have to deal with all those who will make it difficult for us to win elections, mainly because of their conduct or incapacity.

“Candidates will be selected according to the established processes and according to the wishes of the people whom they will be elected to serve.

“No-one is entitled to any position in government, irrespective of whatever position one may hold in the organisation or influence they think they have over structures of the ANC,” Mabuyane said.

On the Covid-19 pandemic, Mabuyane said the first shipment of one million doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine were expected to arrive in Johannesburg on Monday.

“Let us ensure that no-one skips the line or engages in actions that are against the scientific, equity and ethical principles of the vaccination programme,” he said.

“Here in our province we are planning to vaccinate 3.7-million people, which will be enough for us to achieve population immunity in our province.

“This lekgotla must critically assess our rollout plan and advise on areas where there could be improvements.

“We rely on maximum co-operation from our people in the province so that we can successfully roll out the vaccines and defeat the Covid-19 pandemic.”

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