'Clueless' comrades show ANC in a bad light

ANC national spokesman Zizi Kodwa lambasted "lazy comrades" in government, saying they were the reason the party was losing trust and its image was dented amongst middle-class voters in the Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City metros.

Addressing the party's provincial lekgotla in East London over the weekend, Kodwa said cadre deployment of "clueless and lazy" comrades in senior government posts was not working in the ANC's favour. He said this was leading to diminishing trust and "continuously denting" the image of the ruling party. He was addressing ANC provincial executive members and senior government deployees on Saturday.

"In this province, it cannot be that people can complain about services to everybody up until the premier and even when he does intervene, nothing follows. It's important that if we promise something, it must be done," Kodwa said.

He said the ANC had been emphasising that its deployees in government must be constantly monitored. "We do this to quell the perception that even if you are lazy and doing nothing, the ANC will still keep you until end of term."

Kodwa described as a "masterstroke" the DA's move in Buffalo City where the party fired one of its councillors because he was lazy and not performing his duties.

"The DA used that to their advantage because they knew we will not do that in the ANC. What we do if someone is troublesome in a particular council, we move that person to Bhisho and if they continue posing problems, we then send them to Cape Town, and yet results show [negatively] when it comes to voting," Kodwa said.

"We must rebrand the image of ANC because in some areas we are seen as people who cannot govern, as inefficient and who cannot be trusted.

"We must analyse our strategy in relation to what comrades refer to as middle class, but I prefer to call middle strata, especially in Nelson Mandela Bay and BCM," he said.

The ANC garnered 48.54% of votes in Nelson Mandela Bay during last month's elections while it lost to the DA in two recent by-elections in BCM wards.

"These are the people who are not dependent on the state for their livelihoods. What they look for is not social grants but clean governance, accountability and ethics ... Sometimes we say these are enemies of our revolution. It cannot be. These are people we need to engage. There are about four million of them and if we cannot effectively manage our government, we will completely lose their trust," he warned.

Kodwa also allayed fears around President Jacob Zuma's alleged deteriorating health, saying the president was fine. "He took time off after a decision to rest all national office-bearers after a gruelling elections campaign." - Asanda Nini