Mthatha – The African National Congress needs to face the reality that much of the factionalism in the party is rooted in competition for access to resources, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday.
"... We must have the courage to face the reality that our movement is currently under severe strain," he told the ANC 105th anniversary celebrations rally in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.
"We must be honest enough to recognise that disunity, mistrust, ideological incoherence, and organisational weakness is undermining our ability to address the challenges that confront our people.
Building the unity of the ANC and the alliance is therefore the most important and urgent task of the moment," he said.
"At all levels of the organisation, in our leagues and even among some components of the alliance, leadership contests are accompanied by practices such as gatekeeping, vote buying, electoral fraud, and even violence. We must face the reality that much of the factionalism in our movement is rooted in a competition for access to resources."
Ramaphosa said it had to be acknowledged that there were instances where internal ANC processes had been infiltrated by individuals and companies seeking preferential access to state business.
Often, people were recruited to the ANC not to build the organisation, but to provide votes to one or another faction. "Many of the divisions that currently exist in our movement are divisions among leaders, not divisions among members. These are divisions not based on ideological or political differences. They are not based on disagreements over strategy or policy. "These are divisions that are fuelled by a relentless competition for positions, influence, and control over resources. This is the reality that we are determined to change," he said.
"We are dedicating this year, 2017, to correcting the many mistakes that we have made, to ending the deviant practices that are slowly destroying our organisation. We need to make the act of joining the ANC a more meaningful and valued process." Members of the ANC had to feel on their shoulders the burden of responsibility.
Like former ANC president Oliver Tambo, they had to understand that they had been entrusted with the future of the ANC and with the successful prosecution of the struggle of the people, Ramaphosa said. "Each one of us must understand ourselves to be the glue that holds this organisation together. We need to insulate state procurement processes from political interference. We need to strengthen internal processes for managing potential conflicts of interest and alleged criminal conduct and ethical breaches." At the same time, it was necessary to embrace the concept of revolutionary discipline as understood and practiced by Oliver Tambo.
He did not understand discipline as primarily a matter of rules, regulations, and sanction. For him, discipline was the product of a deliberate political decision by an individual to dedicate their capabilities, resources, and energy to the achievement of the aims of the ANC.
For him, discipline was a consequence of the decision of an individual to join the ANC. Discipline did not earn praise. It did not bring personal reward. It was about working hard and placing the interests of the people above one’s own interests. "It is about fighting factionalism, resisting corruption, safeguarding public resources," Ramaphosa said.