Pretoria - The ANC in Joburg has called on the party’s top leadership in Gauteng under David Makhura to exert pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Cabinet to scrap e-tolls and attend to rising food prices in the country.
The region, led by chairperson Dada Morero, said such a move would result in the ANC regaining control of the City of Joburg and increase the party’s dwindling membership.
Morero and his supporters hope the Gauteng ANC will adopt their resolutions at its upcoming provincial elective conference, possibly this week.
Yesterday, Gauteng ANC secretary Jacob Khawe said his region would announce its state of readiness for the conference today. However, it is unclear whether the conference will take place after a court application was served against the party last week.
The ANC has until Friday this week to indicate to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, whether it will oppose an application by more than 25 branches that want the outcome of the Sedibeng regional conference held from May 27 to 29 to be declared unlawful and unconstitutional.
Joburg ANC regional secretary Sasabona Manganye said they had held a special meeting with delegates to the conference on Sunday, during which all agreed that a resolution to scrap e-tolls must be adopted.
Manganye said the region was pressing ahead with its call for an urgent resolution to the electricity crisis as well as the scrapping of e-tolls.
It also wants the price structure of food and climate change effects attended to, and for the ANC to be taken back to the people towards the 2024 general election, ahead of the 14th ANC Gauteng conference.
Manganye said the consensus of the meeting was to place these pressing matters on the table at the provincial conference. “The special meeting of delegates was emphatic on placing and elevating these issues, among others.
“The meeting directed all its members to go back to basics as we attempt to reclaim the important pillars of the National Democratic Revolution which have been lost by the ANC in the region, predominantly the state and economy,” he said.
Manganye said the meeting noted that the party’s renewal and unity were paramount, and for this to succeed the ANC must rid itself of the structural weaknesses that were a result of the manner in which the ANC continued to carry itself on matters that required decisive intervention.
“It is within this context that the ANC Johannesburg lost electoral support. It was mainly due to the electricity challenges, to an extent that ward councillors have endured the brunt of their respective communities’ anger as a result of Eskom’s lack of appetite to resolve this impasse,” he said.
Pretoria News