While the ANC in Gauteng has conceded defeat after the May 29 elections, the party has asserted that calls for the disbandment of the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) were “misplaced” despite the organisation “bleeding” support in the province.
The party’s chairperson and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and its provincial secretary TK Nciza, were addressing the media on the outcomes of the ANC provincial Lekgotla at the Ruth First House in Johannesburg on Monday.
The duo dispelled reports that the PEC was on the brink of getting disbanded after their poor showing at the elections with the ANC in the province losing 16% of the vote from 50% in 2019 to 34% in this year’s general elections.
The pair said, during the two-day Lekgotla that ended on Monday, the PEC had also adopted a resolution to rebuild the organisation in the province.
There have been calls from some officials in the provincial regions, particularly Ekurhuleni and Lesufi’s, detractors for the PEC to be resolved after what they called a dismal performance.
However, Lesufi said that the calls were misplaced because the ANC lost the elections as a unit and not as Gauteng while he also dismissed speculation that the PEC was in trouble with the National Executive Committee for not towing the Government of National Unity (GNU) line.
The ANC, post-elections, went through rigorous negotiations with different political parties that included the second biggest party in the province, the DA, of which the negotiations fell through.
The ANC’s new arrangement and the GPU included the Patriotic Alliance, Rise Mzanntsi and the IFP among others, leaving out the DA.
“There is this perception that if the GPU does not include the DA then it’s not a government or if it’s a government ‒ it’s a corrupt government… We want to dispel that, it’s a wrong assessment and it should not be encouraged,” Lesufi said.
He added that there was a narrative that Gauteng was defying national leadership to establish a government after the NEC established the Government of National Unity (GNU) nationally.
“All the government that we have established within the province and in the municipalities has never been done without the go-ahead of the national leadership… Actually the establishment of this government in the province was the decision of national office bearers … We had to go to the national office bearers to request permission… So that should be dismissed because we understand that the ANC is a unitary movement and not a federal movement,” Lesufi said.
He said in the last NEC meetings, all provincial unity governments were presented and all were accepted by the NEC.
“We are not working out of the ordinary or out of the framework of national leadership. Those that criticise us miss this point hence the call that we should be disbanded… This is misplaced because the Lekgotla discussed it and accepted that all as a collective we have not performed.
“In a nutshell we have accepted defeat and we don’t want to sugarcoat it, we have to accept it the way it is and we have committed ourselves that society must see a new changed in the ANC so that when they see us next time they able to say that we are doing better after losing elections,” he said.
Nciza mirrored his chairperson’s assertions saying there was no problem between national and provincial ANC.
“This notion that there is a problem between province and national does not exist and the province and national have been speaking on this matter a number of times. The national office from time to time receives reports from the provincial secretary of the ANC on the developments of the negotiations,” he said.
Previously, ANC secretary-gegneral Fikile Mbalula discouraged calls for any PEC to be disbanded, saying the organisation should rather be working on winning elections.
Outlining the outcomes of the Lekgotla, Nciza said: “At the centre of the discussions was how to rebuild the organisation in Gauteng guided by the results and the May elections… The starting point was the acknowledgement of the reality that the ANC is bleeding support in the Gauteng province… This loss of support is the result of many factors internally and externally… We will be implementing various mechanisms to facilitate recruitment in our communities including impactfull drives and campaigns,” he said.
Opening the Lekgotla on Sunday, Lesufi called out some members of the ANC to change their attitude after the loss of elections as some members had not arrived in time.
“Comrades if we continue to behave like this, it is the end of us…the ship is sinking at a faster rate,” he said.
The Star