Cape Town - The political “silly season” is upon us, as the battle for control of the ANC in the Western Cape begins.
ANC members are gearing up for regional and provincial conferences which have, in recent years, been marred by infighting and factional feuds.
ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile conceded that conference periods were usually associated with a “crazy, naughty and silly season” in all political parties.
But he urged members to “play nice”.
“You will get a lot of faceless sources that will try to either attack, oppose or support a preferred candidate. But from an organisational point of view, we are urging members to exercise absolute discipline,” he said.
Encouraging members to use the organisational platforms to nominate who they want, Mjongile stressed that it would not help the ANC if people backstab, fabricate and tell lies to get their preferred candidates elected and also by using the media to run smear campaigns.
“In our view there are organisational platforms like branch meetings where everyone is allowed to nominate whoever they prefer to be in the leadership of the province and the regions.”
Mjongile said it was a good time for all ANC members to assess the performance of the current leadership in the regions and the province.
“People have to assess if the current leadership have lived up to the programme of the ANC to rebuild and strengthen the party structures. At the end of the day it is the branches of the ANC that determines who sits in the leadership structures, not the leadership themselves.”
He added that the ANC’s provincial leadership would hold a lekgotla this weekend which would entail assessing the leadership’s four-year term, preparation for the provincial conference, as well as setting the tone for the 2016 municipal elections.
“After the lekgotla, the ANC will head into the regional conference which will give the party an opportunity to set a clear programme for the ANC in preparation for the 2016 elections next year,” he added.
And while the party was planning for its upcoming provincial conference, which was scheduled to be held between March 20 to 22, the ANC’s provincial leadership race was still shrouded in mystery, with new and current candidates being added to secret candidate lists.
The ANC last held an elective conference in 2011 when ANC provincial leader Marius Fransman was crowned the party’s provincial chairman, after rival candidate Mcebisi Skwatsha pulled out of the race.
Mjongile said the provincial conference would give the party an opportunity to thrash out and prepare policy inputs for the province, including issues of land reform, economic transformation and job creation, education and skills development, the national health insurance and crime.
“These policies will be taken to the national general council because we are heading towards a mid-term review in June,” he added.
Mjongile said ANC members in the Western Cape would start convening regional conferences from February 21 to 22, starting with the Karoo, West Coast and Overberg.
The second group, the Dullah Omar region, the Southern Cape and Boland would head to their conferences between February 28 and March 1, where nominations for the party leadership would start.
Mjongile said every branch in good standing has been allocated one delegate for the national general council later this year.
He said delegates for the provincial and the regional conferences would be determined by the total number of branches that passes an audit.
Cape Argus