Staff Reporter
ANC provincial secretary Paseka Nompondo has warned members working with the opposition saying their days are numbered because the party will not allow them to continue destroying it from within.
He told journalists during a media briefing on Thursday following the party’s Free State provincial executive committee meeting that those found to be working with the opposition, against party policy, will not be allowed to represent the organisation in future.
“Members of the ANC who are deployed in government and municipalities should understand that they were placed in those positions by the organisation and that they don’t represent their own jackets,” said a fired-up Nompondo.
“If they wanted to represent their own jackets, they should have contested in the elections as independent candidates.
“. . . you can’t be a member of the ANC who is a councillor and suddenly you connive with the opposition against those who are placed by the organisation.”
“It’s against our own revolutionary morality in the ANC,” he added.
Nompondo said this in response to a question from The Free Stater on whether he was confident on the level of unity within the party given that councillors in some municipalities are believed to be voting with the opposition which is against ANC policy.
“Going to bed with the opposition, against your own comrades like what happened in Mangaung and Dihlabeng, is something that is highly unacceptable,” he warned.
“The organisation is dealing with those issues.
“No person will be allowed to represent the ANC in the future when that person has a track record of sowing divisions within the party’s deployees . . . in municipal councils, provincial legislature or at national level.
“You can’t be a divisionist and then we allow you to continue to serve the organisation in that way.
“Those who must serve the ANC must be disciplined at all times.”
Nompondo said he was confident the party will be able to achieve unity because members of the ANC are expected to believe in its constitution, the Freedom Charter, as well as its strategy and tactics.
“That’s what must unite us,” he pointed out.
“If others don’t believe in those things, then we are not reading from the same page.”
“We will achieve unity in the ANC,” he added.
“Those who work against party positions, I think time is running out. The ANC is acting on such comrades.”
The ANC in the Free State has faced turbulent times in different municipalities over the past few years.
In November last year, DA member Eric Motloung was voted speaker of Dihlabeng Local Municipality after some ANC members allegedly voted with the opposition.
Motloung, who has since stepped down following a court interdict by local government MEC Thembeni Nxangisa, received 18 votes against 13 for the ANC councillor Tseki Tseki when council voted by secret ballot on November 30.
In the 39-member council, the ANC holds 25 seats while the DA has eight, the EFF three and the Freedom Front Plus one.
There are two independent councillors.
Nxangisa cited among others that procedure was not followed in the election and the eventual appointment of Motloung to the position of council speaker.
Former Mangaung Metro executive mayor Olly Mlamleli left office in August last year after some members of the ruling party allegedly voted with the opposition for her ouster.
The ANC described the incident as embarrassing and disappointing because its own councillors had defied its policy and voted with the opposition.
The party said it would work hard to fix the situation at the municipality which was placed under administration in December 2019.
At least 31 councillors voted for Mlamleli’s removal through a secret ballot while 28 were against the no confidence vote.
Eight ballots were spoiled.
In the last local government elections, the ANC lost control of Metsimaholo Local Municipality and went into a coalition with smaller parties in order to achieve the majority threshold in the 42-seat council.
The council however failed to adopt a budget for the 2017/18 financial year due to disagreements between the coalition members.
This led to the council being dissolved in July 2017 and the municipality, which has in the past won accolades for good governance, was put under administration.
A new council was elected on November 29, 2017 but, once again, there was no majority winner.
The ANC regained control after it went into another coalition – with the SA Communist Party, the African Independent Congress, Metsimaholo Community Association and the Forum 4 Service Delivery – to govern the municipality.
Lindiwe Tshongwe of the SACP was elected mayor.
The coalition is however not working.
The parties tied in the marriage of convenience are constantly fighting for control of the municipality and its finances are in a state of disarray.
It has received a string of poor audit outcomes from the Auditor General and service delivery has deteriorated drastically.
Just over a week ago, Tshongwe survived a vote of no confidence on a technicality after council speaker Thabo Mabasa ruled that important procedures had not been followed.
Mabasa sent out a letter last week Thursday – ahead of a special sitting that was expected to kick Tshongwe out of the mayoral office – saying proceedings to remove her were irregular and had not been informed about this in writing.
The ANC is desperate to regain full control of the municipality.