Mantashe: ANC going through a very difficult time

Black Management Forum president Mncane Mthunzi, Gwede Mantashe and Mzwanele Manyi at the BMF's annual conference. Picture: Bhekikhaya Mabaso

Black Management Forum president Mncane Mthunzi, Gwede Mantashe and Mzwanele Manyi at the BMF's annual conference. Picture: Bhekikhaya Mabaso

Published Oct 6, 2016

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Johannesburg - After the ANC’s dismal performance in the municipal elections, the party’s upper echelon had to fend off calls from disgruntled members demanding that President Jacob Zuma be fired.

Members thought recalling Zuma would solve the ANC’s woes. This was as the ANC consulted the party’s structures as part of its detailed analysis process to see where it went wrong.

But the ANC’s top leaders shot down these calls because they believed firing Zuma was not the solution. This was because the leaders believed the party was dealing with a trust deficit.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe revealed this on Wednesday when he addressed the Black Management Forum (BMF) in Joburg. “Members said the only thing we should do is to fire Jacob Zuma and all the problems of society would be resolved.

“We said no, no, no’,” Mantashe said, in his opening address at the BMF conference in Midrand. “One of the conclusions we came to was that we are not dealing with service-delivery problems here, we are dealing with trust deficit.

“Trust deficit is a very difficult problem to deal with because you can’t put your hand on it. People just don’t trust you, they don’t have confidence in you. And when you have lost ground - 8 percent in the elections - everybody believes that the ANC is a bunch of brainless people. No, it can’t be.”

But Mantashe admitted that the ANC was going through a “very difficult period”, in which various sectors of society doubted the ANC’s ability to lead.

The ANC lost the crucial metros of Joburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay to the DA in the August polls.

Mantashe said losing the metros, which he described as major economic centres, was a signal that the ANC may, after all, not be different from other African liberation movements who started power by losing support in urban areas.

Mantashe also conceded the ANC-led government was beset with corruption, which he described as “own goals” the party had identified.

“Corruption is no longer imagined. There’s a lot of corruption, and there’s a lot of looting.”

Another own goal, he said, was the “accidental” succession debate that says Zuma is on his second term and may not avail himself in 2017, then all jostle for positions.

“If succession is not managed, it’s an own goal,” he pointed out. Mantashe said there was already a “stampede” of candidates who wanted to succeed Zuma as ANC president next year. These included Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and AU Commission chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.

The National Union of Mineworkers declared their support for Ramaphosa to succeed Zuma, while Dlamini Zuma was viewed to enjoy the support of ANC provincial chairpersons Ace Magashule (Free State), David Mabuza (Mpumalanga), and Supra Mahumapelo (North West).

Dlamini Zuma is also seen to have the backing of the ANC’s women’s and youth leagues as well as the uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans’ associations.

Mantashe warned the DA not to get too comfortable as they would reclaim control of the metros in the next election. He called on the BMF to engage them in finding solutions to societal challenges.

“We don’t want you to tell us what we want to hear, tell us things as you see them. Give us honest feedback. We don’t want praise singers because (they) accompany you to a river full of crocodiles.”

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The Star

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