ANC must deal with challenges, Faku warns

The ANC will not survive another 108 years if challenges facing the party are not addressed from within.

This is according to ANC Nelson Mandela Bay regional task team convener Nceba Faku, who said the challenges which threaten the party’s existence included internal issues that needed disciplined leaders to address.

Faku, a former mayor of the metro, addressed ANC officials in Motherwell at the region’s celebration of the party’s 108th birthday on Sunday.

“Today, the signs are that we [the ANC] may not live  another 108 years,” he said.

“If we are truly committed to delivering the ANC for the next coming generation, let’s do our part as the current members of the party.

“We need ANC members who will live by the values of the party if we are to achieve another 108 years.” 

Faku said unity was at the core of the region’s chances of achieving the national ANC’s plans for this year as communicated by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the party’s birthday celebration on January 8.

These fall under the theme of “The Year of Unity, Socioeconomic Renewal and Nation Building”.

For the ANC to find sustainable solutions, it required leaders who could identify the party’s challenges and use policies as a guide to solving them, Faku said.  

He said the top three challenges to solve were internal, governance and socioeconomic.

Also on Sunday, the ANC’s provincial chair, Oscar Mabuyane, addressed party leaders and members of the ANC Sarah Baartman Regional Cadres Forum, and reminded them of the contribution to the party of late activists such as David Stuurman, Raymond Mhlaba and Vuyisile Mini.

“Oom Ray, Vuyisile Mini, Robert Resha and Harry Gwala, who would have also turned 100 this year had they still been alive, sacrificed their freedom so that we can enjoy this freedom that we have today,” Mabuyane said.

“While it is always best to avoid speaking on behalf of those who are no longer with us, what I know for sure is they would’ve been disappointed and dismayed at the conduct displayed by some MPs during the state of the nation address.

“What transpired on the evening is regrettable, especially in a period that requires all South Africans to unite and pull together towards the goal of overcoming the complex challenges we face as a nation,” he said, in an apparent reference to EFF MPs, who used interjections to  delay the president’s speech by more than an hour.

Mabuyane  emphasised the importance of political education and training for ANC members.

“As such, we recently established the OR Tambo School of Governance, among whose objectives is to build agents of change who have a well-rounded world view,” he said.