New twist in ANC chaos
Luyolo Mkentane
ANC heavyweights Lulu Johnson and Thobile Mhlahlo have condemned the leadership chaos in the party in Nelson Mandela Bay, with Mhlahlo coming out in full support of the branches calling for the regional executive to step down.
The two have been referred to as the muscle behind the 47 branches at loggerheads with the REC for most of this year.
While former provincial safety and transport MEC Mhlahlo admitted he had been at the meetings where regional leadership succession was discussed, Johnson would not confirm his attendance, saying it was “neither here nor there”.
Mhlahlo said yesterday: “I’ve been approached by a number of ANC people – they are coming to ask me: ‘Why are you guys allowing what’s happening to happen in front of your eyes’?”
He said a delegation drawn from the ANC branches had been to see him recently.
“They said: ‘We want you to assist in rescuing the ANC.’
“I said to them I am ready as long as it is genuine branches of the ANC that want me to be part of that collective leadership.
“It is not a secret that there are meetings taking place.”
The branches in the Bay have been protesting at Standard House for months, calling for the REC, led by Nceba Faku, to step down.
Johnson, an MP from Port Elizabeth, said where there was no unity and stability, there was bound to be a war.
“Where there’s a war, energy, time and resources are spent to sustain the war.
“This can’t be OK for the ANC, regardless of who is at the helm.
“You need to talk about consensus in the ANC in this day and age. We want to correct the wrongs and put the ANC back on its own footing, that of being the hope to our people for a better life, not for individuals.”
Johnson lashed out at individuals who “used the ANC ticket to advance their interests”.
Asked whether he had been at the meetings, he said: “Whether I was involved in discussions is neither here nor there.
“What needs to be done [in the ANC] is to correct the wrongs so we can advance development for our people.”
The members’ grievances against Faku include the fact that he is implicated in the Kabuso Forensic Report, which details dodgy land deals during his tenure as city mayor.
The branches have also accused the REC of manipulating the candidate lists drawn up for the municipal elections.
Mhlahlo, who was ANC regional chairman Richmond Mti’s deputy in 1992, said: “It’s true that branches are not happy... there are a number of meetings taking place – some meetings are clandestine.
“In some cases, the branches themselves are having their own meetings.”
Mhlabo said the ANC’s opposition was emerging from within its own ranks. “The fact that you will have people marching, protesting about lack of service delivery or about the manipulation of systems within the party, that is a signal of unhappiness. Something needs to be done.
“The current leadership is unable to rescue the ANC, that’s what I can see.”
The REC will go to a conference in May to elect the party’s regional leadership.
Dion Msimanga, who represents the unhappy branches’ campaign for the REC to step down, said: “We can’t be led by Faku, [ANC regional secretary Zandisile] Qupe and the rest of the REC. We demand it be dissolved.
“People are drifting away from the ANC [and] that makes us worried about 2014 [national elections]. We are concerned about the organisation and the manner in which Bay taxpayers’ money is misused.”
Qupe said, however, they did not believe Faku had used the ANC to advanced his business interests.
“We are happy that the Kabuso report has been released. It came at the right time because those who are affected had been provided with an opportunity to respond. It’s surprising that everyone is talking about the Kabuso report and no one is making a noise about the Fivas report.”
The Fivas report was commissioned by the Bay municipality to look into a litany of allegations of mismanagement against former municipal manager Graham Richards – allegations which the municipality later dropped when it gave Richards his second golden handshake.
