Johannesburg - The instability and infighting ravaging the ANC is worrisome and could compromise the smooth running of the crucial local government elections later this year.
And if the culture of political intolerance is not nipped in the bud it could create unnecessary no-go areas and thus hinder political parties’ elections campaigns.
United Democratic Movement leader General Bantu Holomisa sounded these warnings in an interview with The Star on Monday.
“I’m a little bit worried about the instability and infighting in the ANC. Last week in Lusikisiki, businesses were shut down because of infighting over the candidates lists for the upcoming municipal elections,” he said.
Tension between the ANC and its alliance partner the SACP escalated when Philip Dlamini was gunned down while attending an SACP meeting in Inchanga, near Durban, last week.
“I thought the ANC’s top six leadership would go down to KwaZulu-Natal instead of Cape Town. One has to be worried about this infighting because it can affect other political parties’ campaigns for the municipal elections. It could create unnecessary no-go areas.
“I’ve gone down that route and I don’t want us to go back there,” said Holomisa, referring to the ANC’s top six leadership’s visit to Cape Town on Monday following the suspension of provincial chairman Marius Fransman.
Fransman faces sexual harassment charges by his personal assistant. And ANC provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs has been placed on leave for allegedly assaulting a colleague in December.
The UDM, said Holomisa, was “more or less” ahead of other political parties in the country regarding preparations for the elections. The UDM launched its election manifesto during the party’s national congress in Bloemfontein in December.
The manifesto is focused on putting the community first and ensuring that developmental projects should benefit communities, not the political elite. Holomisa said they were busy screening candidates.
“We are also assembling electoral task teams to identify pressing service delivery issues in districts countrywide, because issues confronting communities differ from area to area,” he said, adding there was no silver bullet to winning the elections.
“There is no secret weapon at all. All we are doing is going to communities and asking people to give us a chance because the others have messed up. Our motto and theme is 'putting people first',” he explained.
The UDM was increasing its footprint in Nelson Mandela Bay, where it embarrassed the ANC by winning ward 30 in a by-election in Port Elizabeth. The party was “spreading to other wards” with the intention of wresting more wards from the ANC’s grip.
The Star