AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS KWAZULU-NATAL PROVINCE
PEC STATEMENT ON THE OUTCOME OF T 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS
06 AUGUST 2016
“THE PEOPLE HAVE DEFINED THEIR OWN FUTURE”
1. The 2016 Local Government Elections are over, with great sense of humbleness we affirm that the “People have defined their own future”. By voting each person placed his or her hope and future in the hands of the party of their choice to work side by side with it in a common agenda to build a better life. We accept the outcome with the humility and courage.
2. We are greatly privileged that so many of our people came out overwhelmingly on the 3rd August 2016, to vote and voted for the African National Congress. This sense of privilege will stay with us and serve as a fountain of courage for a very long time. The privilege we have is derived from our sincere recognition of the fact that never before, have we as movement in KZN, recorded such a decisive victory during Local Government Elections in our province.
3. Our province is in that important moment of history wherein the sun continues to rise in order to punish and defeat the darkness. With the African National Congress further consolidating its political leadership of our province, what the new light will and must bring is a province at work diligently to build a better life all. Thus we say the people have defined their own future.
4. In practical and measurable ways, we are committed to keep pace with the rising sun of hope and fast move away from the past moment of despair. In this momentous journey, we are greatly proud and excited by the continued confidence our people place on the leader of society, the agent of progressive change, the African National Congress.
5. Our minds will solely concentrate on inquiring and formulating new and better ways to change the lives of our people for the better. This is the mission for which the African National Congress was founded and we cannot betray it.
6. We also wish to express our sincere gratitude to the Independent Elections Commission for an outstanding work to ensure that these elections are free and fair. We can state without any fear of contradiction or hesitation, that despite many challenges on the ground, the IEC stood firm and delivered on its mandate.
7. Our message of gratitude also goes to all political parties and individual candidates who participated in these elections. Their involvement made the campaign more challenging and exciting, but most importantly demonstrated that our hard won democracy is maturing.
8. At this juncture, the African National Congress salutes the people of KwaZulu-Natal for their commitment to work with our government and organization in a quest to build a national democratic society. It was deeply humbling to see many of our people standing in long queues waiting to cast their vote.
9. It is even more humbling to know that these masses stood in those queues patiently in order to vote, so overwhelmingly, for the African National Congress, affirming it as a key and dependable ally for their own future.
10. Today, the victory we celebrate is your victory and indeed your own commitment to the agenda to build a national democratic society. This is a victory we can never take for granted. I know this as a matter fact that the entire membership and supporters of the ANC in our province, accept this victory as:
- Signifying the people’s your commitment to work with the ANC to build a united and prosperous KwaZulu-Natal.
- Affirming that the unity of our people both Black and White remains at the heart of our strategic objective to move our province forward.
- Signifying the acceptance of our people that the ANC has the ability and concrete plans to create jobs and reduce unemployment.
11. We are confident that the dynamic connection between the ANC and the masses of our people, from all sectors of society, remains a decisive factor for the consistent electoral successes of the movement in KwaZulu-Natal. This is a single most important distinguishing factor that sets the African National Congress far apart from all political parties in our country. Our elected councilors understand and have internalized this reality as the basis for the continued electoral support of the ANC.
12. Our people have given us the responsibility to establish ANC controlled and led Councils in Dumbe, Bergville, Phongolo and of course Umvoti Local Municipalities for the first time in history. We accept this task with a deep sense of humility and commit to deploy discipline Councilors who will lead the process of change with and on behalf of our people representing all sectors of society.
13. Nothing was more precious and fulfilling than to see the African National Congress taking a lot wards away from different opposition parties in our province. All political parties in our province have lost few or many wards to the African National Congress, a sign of a remarkable growth for the South African Liberation Movement. No party has gained wards from others more than the ANC in these Local Government Elections. No party has gained Municipalities more that the ANC in these elections. Indeed, we have a sound reason to call this a decisive victory and humble celebrate it.
14. Once again, we would like to thank and salute the families of our fallen comrades whose sudden, unexpected and cruel departure meant that the victory of the ANC in their respective wards will lead to bi-elections.
15. Our victory in these wards signifies the nobility of our agenda, a tribute to the outstanding work of comrades Thembi Mbongo, Khanyisile Ngobese-Sibisi, and Bongani Skhosana and of course a seamless synergy of our organizational vision to the cause of our people.
16. We take the results as marking a point that things cannot be left as if it is normal. Today, on behalf of the African National Congress we are making a firm undertaking and a solemn commitment to ensure that:
- In this five years we will ensure that every household has a decent and reliable water provision and have access to electricity;
- We will ensure that all our Councilors serve our people honestly and competently. No ward councilor will stay out of his or her ward. Our councilors will work to ensure equal opportunity and any allegation of nepotism or corruption will be attended with seriousness and decisively.
- In this coming five years our government will work to ensure that more job opportunities are created to reduce poverty and fight unemployment; and
- We will work to stimulate local economy and ensure that opportunities are given to local people.
17. All of these will be done in order to make further advances in building a non-racial, non-sexist, united, democratic and prosperous society. This is a vision that separates the ANC from all political parties in our country. It is a vision that gave birth to the Freedom Charter many years ago, and of course the National Development Plan recently.
18. At an organizational level, we are going to heighten our work. The ANC will conduct an assessment of its campaign, in particular the selections process with a view of enhancing its democratic character through the participation of members. This assessment will also look on practical causes of high contestations in BGMs and the emergence of independents.
19. We thank the various media houses for their coverage of the elections campaign. Media has an obligation to inform and educate, we were delighted to see some of you doing that excellently. We hope and trust that you will continue to cover the good work done by the democratic government moving forward.
20. We salute our volunteers. On this occasion when we celebrate a decisive victory for the ANC, we also want to salute the volunteers of the movement who made it possible for their organization to reach out to each and every household in our province. No political party could come anyway closer to the overwhelming and unavoidable presence of the ANC on the ground during the elections campaign.
21. As we enter into the next five years of Local Government with a new mandate and looking back to the last five years, we are convinced and our people have agreed with us that things have significantly changed for better. However, we can also conclude with reasonable certainty that lives of our people will be more significantly different and better by the end of five years beginning from today.
22. Once again we accept that the people have defined their own future; we vow not to disappoint them.
I thank you
Statement issued by ANC KwaZulu-Natal, 6 August 2016
