Not in the name of the Western Cape
30 August 2016
The ANC Western Cape Media and Communications wish to distance itself from the divisive statement below which is not in keeping with the spirit and the content of the meeting of the ANC Provincial Executive Committee Lekgotla and the PEC on Sunday.
In the norm and the tradition of the ANC, we normally meet, draft statements, refer the statement to all the Provincial Officials to sign off, having invited the media in our Provincial Office boardroom. The Provincial Officials makes contribution and we all agree and together as a team we attend to the collective press conference chaired by myself, or if I am not available I delegate that responsibility to our Media Liaison Officer, who is a staff member, Yonela Diko to do organisation.
I am currently at the University of the Western Cape attending an academic course. To that effect, I formally wrote to the Provincial Secretary that I am attending a course and will not be available. I suggested that because they are attending a meeting at Luthuli House yesterday, I suggest that a media press conference with the Provincial Officials to highlight the decisions of the ANC Provincial Lekgotla and the PEC be convened this morning. The Provincial Secretary, Cde. Faiez Jacobs fully agreed with me. Contrary to this tradition in our Province, I was surprised to see this statement below sent to the media without our collective sign off and in contrary to what we agreed upon with the Provincial Secretary.
Our Provincial Lekgotla received a thorough presentation from Comrade Beatie Hofmeyer, our national training veteran who engaged us on the election's results. We went to different commissions and reported on our resolutions. Comrade Beatie further inducted us on the branch induction manual, the train the trainer. We were joined by the ANC National Chairperson, Comrade Baleka Mbete on Saturday, and Sunday. We used her presence as a senior leader and an official to raise the matter of the ANC Provincial Chairperson, Cde. Marius Fransman that we request the National Officials / National Working Committee to expedite this matter and bring it to final closure expeditiously because it is affecting the ANC in one way or the other in the Province. We cautioned against PEC members using it to advance factional behaviour. We cautioned our members to refrain in using social media to further harm our movement. In that effect we resolved that those who are involved must be called to engage and warn them against the dangers of destructively using social media. We agreed that if after a person is warned continue to use social media, a Disciplinary route must be considered. We warned that the process must not be used fractionally but all must be identified across factions.