The African National Congress (ANC) KwaZulu-Natal Task Team says the performance of party members deployed in government and the provincial legislature will be monitored as the party continues its renewal process.
The PTT held a media briefing in Durban following its first meeting on Monday. It was formed after ANC’s support in the province dropped from 54% to 17% in May’s general elections last year.
This forced the ANC to form a government with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the Democratic Alliance (DA) and National Freedom Party (NFP).
Last week, the party appointed a 67-member provincial task team in KZN after it dissolved the provincial leadership structures in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. The Provincial Task Team has highlighted the importance of the party reconnecting with communities to win the hearts of people.
The party says as it gears up to next year’s local government elections, it intends to move in unity, listening to the voter’s needs, supporting its branches and working with the traditional leadership and religious sectors.
The PTT convenor Jeff Radebe, when probed on whether the new leadership would remove members deployed in the provincial legislature, responded, “We have no prior plan to removing anybody who is deployed in the province of KwaZulu-Natal and in the legislature. But as I’ve said, we are going to hold and monitor everybody who is in government, who is in the legislature on the ticket of the ANC. We are going to be ensuring that we create proper metrics of monitoring and evaluating all our deployed cadres regardless of who they are; so, be it the MEC of Education or Health or Transport, whoever. They are not gonna escape scrutiny. The rigorousness of our process as you always say, the process will find you out.”
Radebe says party politics and factionalism will be rooted out.
“We are totally intolerant of factionalism. Those who think that they can continue with factions, they are making a big mistake. We have the authority to deal decisively with all those who deviate from the norms and ethics of the African National Congress. Let them try, they won’t find space within this collective. We are going to ensure that all those, regardless of who they are, will be dealt with within the structures of the organisation,” he says.
PTT co-ordinator in the province, Mike Mabuyakhulu, says the focus is on working to restore the functionality of struggling municipalities.
“We are going to have a due process of assessing all of our municipalities, their functionalities, their challenges and therefore, see where we can assist and need to intervene. Some of the challenges are external factors and some are internal factors. And we have set aside ourselves a timeline that we are going to be able to have, a summit that will be convened to ensure that we bring all our municipalities together to see the performance where we govern. And similarly, we will also be assessing our performance where we are in the opposition,” says Mabuyakhulu.
The PTT is expected to report to the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) about the progress it has made in rebuilding the party in the province in six months.
