KLERKSDORP - A united ANC is needed going into the national election, national executive committee (NEC) member David Mahlobo said on Monday.
"We received a report that you are divided, your division lead to the division of councillors and it went to community," he told supporters at the Matlosana municipality in Klerksdorp after council meeting.
"You have realised that it was a mistake, the leadership of the ANC understood that there are issues that make comrades to behave in a manner that is not organisational."
The Matlosana council met to elect a speaker and a mayor, after Washington Ntozini resigned as a mayor on November 15, Ntozini was elected after Maetu Kgaile was removed as a mayor through a motion of no confidence last month.
At the meeting Kgaile was reinstated as the mayor and Ntozini as the speaker.
Mahlobo told party supporters that Ntozini and a group of councillors that voted him in as a mayor were not forced to change their decision.
"You were not forced, you met alone and came to a decision that you wanted to correct the situation," he said.
ANC supporters insulted each other and were on the verge of exchanging blows in the public gallery, they heckled Kgaile as she announced her members of the mayoral committee and called her a sellout.
Despite the tension, they sang together and accepted Kgaile's election although some stated they would shut down the municipality until she resigned.
Mahlobo said ANC leaders in Matlosana must go to different communities and explained the position to clear the confusion created by grouping in the party's local leaders, stating that factions have no place in the ANC.
He added that members should belong to the ANC and not individuals.
He urged the mayor and councillors to focus on service delivery.