POETRY IN MOTION: Poet Mgomeni sings a praise song about ANC provincial spokesman Mlibo Qoboshiyane during the ANC’s 101st birthday celebration hosted by the King Sabata Dalindyebo ANC sub-region in Mthatha on Sunday. Picture: LULAMILE FENI
ANC national executive committee member Beauty Dlulane has urged members in the King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) not to defy the party by acting against the reelection of councillors in municipalities affected by the election lists fiasco.
This after a task team led by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma made revelations about candidates who were placed on election lists at the last minute against the wishes of the community.
The Daily Dispatch earlier reported the ANC had warned it would act against councillors elected in 2011 amid findings of manipulation and flawed screening processes.
The action follows a damning report by Dlamini-Zuma, who found the party’s process of electing its local government representative had been tampered with.
Dlulane, canvassing for unity within the party, delivered the key address at the ANC’s 101 birthday celebrations hosted by the KSD’s ANC sub-regional committee in Mthatha at the weekend.
She said the Dlamini-Zuma committee had attended to 145 disputes and complaints lodged from the Eastern Cape.
“This is very large number. In the Western Cape, there were 12 disputes.
“Of the 145 complaints, 10 are from OR Tambo [region],” Dlulane told hundreds of ANC members, who attended the event at the Mthatha Town Hall.
She said party members and leaders in the areas must display high levels of discipline as the re-election of the councillors was now a directive of the NEC.
“The high number of disputes is caused by the high numbers of parallel structures in the OR Tambo region and in the KSD,” said Dlulane.
She said a number of wards will have to undertake by-elections.
Dlulane urged those councillors who were irregularly appointed to executive positions to step down in terms of the directive of their party.
She spoke of unity as the party prepares for the 2014 general elections.
“Even those who were against us when we were going to Mangaung, we must now embrace them as our comrades not our enemies. The NEC in its recent meeting found unity within the part to be supreme,” said Dlulane.
ANC provincial spokesman Mlibo Qoboshiyane warned those at the event that during the forthcoming provincial elective conference, “we must not allow a space where we are divided by the people we defeated in Mangaung”. — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
