Cape Town - The ANC in the Western Cape has had its dirty laundry aired in public after a small group of cadres exposed a rift among loyal members and the party’s provincial leadership.
The group called on Luthuli House to intervene and probe allegations of corruption, factionalism and cronyism in the party’s provincial leadership.
ANC loyalists Rashaad Carlsen and Hanif Loonat, the former provincial CPF chairman, said they were tired of continually having to defend an organisation that was “blatantly selling its own principles” and were fed-up with corruption within the party.
Taking a swipe at ANC chairman Marius Fransman and ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile, the members said the current leaders were in no position to challenge the DA in next year’s general elections and had been misrepresenting the state of the province to the national leadership.
But the ANC’s provincial leadership rubbished the claim, saying it was made in bad faith by a small band of disgruntled people posing as concerned ANC cadres, but who behaved like “agents provocateurs”.
“Those making these libellous statements are all unsuccessful candidates that did not make it onto any nomination lists in the recent ANC internal processes as public representatives ahead of the upcoming 2014 elections,” the provincial leadership said in a joint statement.
But the disgruntled group stuck to their guns, saying there were many more who felt the same.
“We are not afraid of the ramifications. We’ve been fighting this internal battle for the past two years,” Carlsen said on Wednesday.
He said what infuriated ANC members was the so-called democratic list process for local, provincial and national elections being manipulated for personal interest and gain.
Highlighting the problems within party ranks, Loonat accused the provincial executive of:
* Promoting coloured nationalism by pitting coloureds and Africans against one another.
* Manipulating organisational processes to suit predetermined outcomes.
* Undermining branches.
* Trying to accommodate members who are criminally charged and considering reinstating them in ANC structures.
* Isolating concerned members and national executive committee (NEC) members not aligned to the current leadership.
* Undermining decisions taken by the ANC’s national leadership.
“My appeal goes out to Mantashe (Gwede) that he comes out here and implements an inquiry into the claims we are making,” Loonat said.
While making it clear they were not turning their backs on the party but instead fighting for its soul, the group denied it was a case of sour grapes. Loonat, who said he had written to Mantashe as far back as 2011 to no avail, was concerned the “NEC had been lied to over the years”.
Using Mjongile as an example, Loonat said: “The Western Cape leadership has within its ranks people who are blacklisted from doing business with government and the same people have to oversee the integrity of the organisation’s public representation.”
And the two members, who referred to Fransman’s election as chairman in 2011 as undemocratic, also questioned his current leadership style, adding that unless there was national intervention the ANC was doomed to failure in the province.
“There is this belief in the Western Cape that you must put a person of colour in charge and you will win the province and that’s a sad misrepresentation of the truth. The truth is to put a competent person in place,” Carlsen said.
Mjongile branded Loonat as a political migrant who thrives on rumour mongering and a careerist who fell out of favour with the Western Cape Community Policing Forum board and was subsequently trying very hard to get onto any kind of list.
“He even said on Facebook that he was addressing meetings of the new party Agang,” Mjongile said. “Organisational issues in the ANC are dealt with through appropriate structures and not slanderous encounters with reporters.”
Cape Argus