Durban - As the second day of the ANC’s 8th KwaZulu-Natal provincial conference gets underway the party’s Tripartite Alliance partners and leagues have urged the party that the leadership it elects should reflect hope for the country at large and not their personal interest.
Richard Mkhungo, SANCO KZN provincial secretary, says that the choices that they make from their deliberations should reflect hope for the country at large.
He said that the root causes of the ANC and the Alliance’s problems were that they could not identity their enemy.
“Let us focus our energy to fighting our real enemy,” Mkhungo said.
New Cosatu provincial chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal, Skhumbuzo Mdlalose, says that the new leadership should advance the mandate of the poor of the country.
Themba Mthembu, SACP KZN provincial secretary, said that the provincial conference was being held under an unfortunate environment situation and under a toxic environment.
“Crucial in determining future of the province, this conference must not fail us. It should bring hope and stability to the people of KZN and it can reverse the disappointment we’ve been suffering in by-elections. We should stop providing ammunition to our enemies.
“We call for the unity of the ANC and alliance and it must be a dialectical unity that contains contradictions but we should not let the contradictions become sharp dividing lines,” Mthembu said.
He said the ANC should be assured of a reliable ally as it campaigns side by side for an overwhelming victory in the national and provincial elections next year.
Kwazi Mshengu, ANCYL KZN chairperson, said it was their duty to ensure that the ANC is united and will inspire society as it emerges from the conference.
“As the only credible voice of young people we have a vested interest in the life, stability and unity of the ANC because our future is nowhere else but in the ANC.
“Because we’re the custodians of our future and because the future is in the ANC therefore we have every reason to seek to influence the strategic direction of the ANC at all times,” Mshengu said.
He said that society must see itself in the ANC not just in the resolutions but also but also in the leadership that will be elected.
“In this province prior to this conference we come from a very painful past where the ANC was losing its hegemony in society, when the ANC was losing its ability to provide leadership to society and when the ANC was losing its character to be a mirror of society and true representative of the true aspirations of our society,” said Mshengu said.
He said that as the party heads to the 2019 elections the ANC must always be on the side of the poor.
“We believe that it is our revolutionary duty as the ANCYL to give the new meaning life to the ANC. It is our duty that emerging out of this conference the ANC is not only united but the ANC must inspire society,” Mshengu said.