Durban - Ace Magashule, Secretary General of the ANC officially opened the KZN provincial conference on Thursday, telling delegates this was an opportunity to build and strengthen the ANC in the province.
“The hallmark of any revolutionary movement is to have a robust evaluation of its strength and weakness."
“All revolutionary parties that have perished, did so because they grew conceited and failed to speak about their weaknesses.”
Magashule said self-introspection and self-correction was needed.
“As we work as the ANC we always work as a collective. Our movement is faced with an offensive onslaught, both from within and outside its ranks.”
Magashule said if nothing is done about this, then the party was in peril.
“The struggle when the ANC was banned is not the same struggle as today. Today there is money, today we can easily be persuaded to forget what the ANC fought for. There are those who want to see the ANC abandons its values.”
eThekwini region chairperson and Mayor Zandile Gumede reminded delegates that the first conference of the ANC after the unbanning the party was held in Durban.
She said the ANC has its own internal mechanisms to deal with conflict and there was no need to go to court to resolve matters.
“We spend a lot of time dealing with the concept of unity and we are looking forward to a leadership that will unit the province and the country. Our people are tired of our infighting. We must further unite the alliance in our province.”
The conference was due to have started at 5pm but was delayed by accreditation of the 1 700 delegates and by an eleventh hour application for an interdict to stop the conference from taking place. At 5pm news started to filter through to the conference venue that the application for the interdict had been struck off the roll at the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
NEC members Zweli Mkhize, Jackson Mthembu, Nocawe Mafu (convenor of NEC members deployed in KZN), Zizi Kodwa, Pule Mabe, Dakota Legoete, Sindisiwe Chikunga, Nathi Mthethwa and Mildred Olifant are at the conference. The ANC’s alliance partners and the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) also attended the conference.