Pretoria - If the DA wins control of the capital in the 2016 local government elections, the ANC will never forgive voters. This was the parting message of the party’s veteran and national executive committee member Aaron Motsoaledi at the closing of the ninth Tshwane regional conference at St George’s Hotel on Sunday.
“If you do anything that gives the opposition the upper hand, you will not be ANC members,” he told delegates and the re-elected regional leadership under mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa, who overcame a fierce storm within the party to retain the hot seat.
Motsoaledi, who is also the Minister of Health, stole the show – drawing compliments and even tears from some delegates.
The DA, which got more votes than the ANC in the city during the May general election, should never be allowed to govern an inch of the country, Motsoaledi said. What happened in the Western Cape where the DA governs was a huge mistake.
The scenario with the city serving as the seat of government and home to diplomats being governed by the DA should never be allowed. “If the ANC lost elections, it would be a loss for the entire African continent,” Motsoaledi said.
“In all the problems on the continent, South Africa has always been asked to mediate. Can you imagine them coming to a President Helen Zille to ask for assistance?
That should never be allowed.
“And this has nothing to do with race but the nature of the DA; the DA has no DNA to solve the problems of the continent.”
He reiterated a call by provincial chairman and keynote speaker Paul Mashatile for anyone with evidence on corruption in the city to come forward. Mashatile was more blatant in condemning as lies the allegations of corruption against Ramokgopa and his administration.
The allegations came from within the alliance structures, including the ANC Youth League, which had originally boycotted the conference until a last-minute overnight intervention.
Meanwhile, Ramokgopa has vowed not to lead a generation that would go down in history as the one that handed control of the municipality to the opposition.
The new leadership would do all in its power to avoid having that stigma as part of their legacy, he said.
The politician, fondly known as “Sputla”, was re-elected unopposed with his executive team of deputy Mapiti Matsena, regional secretary Paul Mojapelo and deputy regional secretary George Matjila, as well as treasurer Dolly Ledwaba.
Attended by more than 400 delegates, the conference called for maximum unity and discipline in the region. Delegates reflected on the state of the party and acknowledged the acts of ill-discipline and manifestation of tendencies which were foreign to the culture and traditions of the ANC.
Ramokgopa said he was not bothered by the events of the past weeks when other factions called for a leadership change and accused him of presiding over a corrupt municipality, and threatened to interdict the conference.
Such occurrences were common ahead of ANC conferences, he said.
“I was never in doubt that the conference would go smoothly. With regards to being elected again, that was up to the delegates,” Ramokgopa said.
He owned up to failing to pull together the alliance partners during his last term but vowed the new leadership would seek to rally the ANC leagues and alliance partners behind a commonly shared programme.
However, he said the leagues should know that they were part of the ANC, and alliance partners should accept the ANC as the leader of the alliance.
Motsoaledi urged delegates and the leadership to implement the resolutions of the conference, adding South Africans were good with coming up with policies but awful at implementing them.
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Pretoria News