ANC KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Executive Committee statement
1 October 2015
The African National Congress held its Provincial Executive Committee on Monday, 28th September 2015, where it reflected on number of reports and issues concerning the organisation, and indeed, the people of KwaZulu-Natal.
The ANC as a leader of society has a responsibility to also reflect on the state of the country on other issues which affects the lives of our people. We do this with honesty and if need be, with brutality, so that as the ANC we always remain in-touch with realities on the ground.
BY-ELECTIONS OUTCOMES
As you may be aware, the IEC yesterday, conducted by-elections in various parts of the province of KwaZulu-Natal. As part of preparing for the next year’s local government elections, the by-elections in the province are very important as a yardstick to test the confidence people have on the ANC.
In yesterday’s by-elections, the ANC snatched ward 08 from the IFP in uMlalazi Municipality and also retained ward 02 in eMandlangeni Municipality (Utrecht) with a landslide victory of 903 votes while the combined IFP and NFP opposition could only garner just above 500 votes. This is clear evidence of the soaring popularity of the ANC among voters in this province and is also testimony to the on-going plummeting support of the opposition.
We are very humble by the overwhelming support we have received across the province, in-fact even in areas where the ANC did not win the by-election but it has registered a significant growth in voter numbers.
Inspired by this support, we will continue to work very hard as the ANC to make sure that by next year (2016), we are ready to take over control of all municipalities in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
We will be contesting all wards and we are confident that the ANC will surprise many in areas that were historical under the control of other political parties. The Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) has adopted clear guidelines for selecting our candidates and we want to make sure that the people in each ward are given a chance to participate.
TAXI INDUSTRY VIOLENCE
The PEC deliberated on the issue of taxi violence which has flared up in certain parts of the province. The ANC is of the view that the industry plays an important role in transporting thousands of people daily supporting the economy of our province. The recent outbreak of violence in Brook street taxi rank in eThekwini few weeks ago, where three people were shot and killed, must be condemned. We however welcome the swift response by the police, who managed to arrest 12 suspects and recovered more than 25 fire-arms. As we speak the suspects are in court today for a formal bail application but as the ANC we monitoring developments in this case.
It is high time now that we must all work together to end violence in the taxi industry and prioritize the safety of commuters, who are at times caught in the cross-fire. We call on police to do everything possible to ensure law and order and end taxi violence. We cannot allow a situation where commuters are subjected to harassment and terror.
We call on government and municipalities to take control of the security in taxi ranks and terminate the use of security companies. The police must take full responsibility of creating peaceful environment in all areas.
The PEC also noted the eThekwini “taxi strike” which left majority of commuters stranded and forced to walk long distances. The suffering was felt the most by our mainly pensioners, school children and ordinary workers. What was even more saddening is that it took place without any notice. The strike indeed put the jobs of many people at risk and the ANC appeal that differences be handled better and inconvenience to commuters who are the life blood of the taxi industry be avoided in future.
The ANC, whiles respecting the rights of operators to suspend operation or to protest but we wish to state it categorically clear that we condemn violence and stoning of buses and those taxi operators who were not part of this “strike’.
POLICE KILLINGS
The PEC noted the release of recent crime statistics and welcome the encouraging trend of declining crime incidents in many areas. The ANC, is still very concerned at the murder rate and call upon the law enforcement agencies to do everything possible to remove the highest number of illegal guns in our communities because they are behind the high murder rates. We also call on our Justice system the give the harshest of sentences for murder and many other serious crimes. The PEC also noted that the number of police officers who are killed in the line of duty has grown exponentially in recent times. The PEC has expressed utter disgust at the growing incidents and view this as tantamount to waging the war against our very own democracy.
The ANC appreciates that police are the only shield between our people and the dangerous and heavily armed criminals.
The PEC calls on the SAPS management to come up with strategies to curb these killings and develop mechanisms to protect the police when they are on duty. We also call on communities to provide the first line of defence for our police officers.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE ETHEKWINI CONFERENCE, PGC AND THE PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE
The preparations for the eThekwini conference are proceeding well. The PEC received a report on branches that have met so far and we are convinced that we will meet the deadlines.
The task team in eThekwini is currently having their hands full, trying to ensure that all processes are followed without fail for us to convene a successful conference for the ANC in eThekwini region.
The PEC also received reports on the preparations for the PGC and the Provincial Conference. Currently branch meetings are taking place across the province to discuss these important meetings of the ANC and to formulate strong policy discussions.
As part of preparing for the NGC, we are convening number of sectorial public engagement to debate the discussion documents of the ANC – to make it an inclusive process and get view of other sectors. Recently we had one on media transformation, which experts from the media, academia and ordinary people participated. We will be convening others across the province, on critical issues and place in the public domain the ANC’s proposals.
On the provincial conference, we call on members of the ANC to observe maximum discipline and spend energy on pondering about the challenges facing our people and how best as the ANC we can provide solutions. The conference must engage on the journey we travelled as the province and assess programmes of the movement.
We cannot avoid the reality that the issue of leadership will come up during discussions in branches but the issue of leadership must be secondary. Members of the ANC must not be pre-occupied with leadership issues at an expense of the programme of the organisation.
The ANC culture has been that you start by assessing the organization, develop a programme of action and then look among the members who best can lead to champion that programme, we are not about elections and electing new leaders.
We further appeal to members to resist the temptation of using social media and other platforms to tarnish the image of the ANC and insult leaders of the organisations. ANC matters must be canvassed and be debated in branches not on social media.
Statement issued by Sihle Zikalala, ANC KZN provincial secretary, 1 October 2015
