Ramaphosa pleads for the ANC to be given another chance
· Citizen
The ANC has once again humbled itself before voters and taken responsibility for its failures in government, saying it won’t make excuses for the mistakes it made while in power.
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The party also claimed responsibility for progress since 1994 and promised the next phase of local government must be about implementing its policies.
During the campaign, people told the ANC it has good policies, good values, and good traditions it must follow but lacked implementation. This message came from party president and the country’s head of state, Cyril Ramaphosa, in an address at the launch of the ANC manifesto at Diepsloot, north of Joburg, ahead of the 4 November local government elections.
The president conceded to ANC failures in service delivery where it governed.
“We will not mince our words and not run away from the reality that confronts our people. “We will admit that, yes, we’ve worked together with our people to make tremendous progress, but we will similarly say there had been weaknesses, there had been failures and we will admit them as the ANC,” Ramaphosa said.
Service delivery
He also highlighted service delivery progress with successfully ending load shedding across the country. The progress included 460 days had passed since the country last experienced load shedding.
Ramaphosa noted seven of nine provinces are free from load reduction except Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, a problem the department of electricity is busy attempting to resolve.
The ANC promised to announce mayoral candidates for the metros nationwide at the weekend, but back tracked, only naming shortlisted candidates. It undertook to publicise the final mayoral candidates list next month.
Discord inside the party
Independent political analyst Goodenough Mashego said it was understand able the mayoral candidates were not announced as it was an ANC tradition not to hurry the announcements. Among the party’s fear was the that candidates tend to be targeted for assassinations. Besides the mayor is not elect ed by the voters but by council.
“They don’t want to put targets on the back of people,” Mashego said.
The ANC also wanted to approach individuals in parliament with a view to deploy them as mayors, and that process was likely unfinished, he said. Mashego added the ANC is in panic because it is facing strong opposition candidates in metros like Joburg, where they might want a “big fish” candidate like Frank Chikane. Ramaphosa said the ANC should be judged on what it delivered since 1994 and by the humility it displays about where it fell short.
“I want us to hear the ANC clearly. We admit progress has been made and made through the leadership and work of the ANC but in the course of that, there has been weaknesses. But now we are the ones, that once against are saying we must renew,” said Ramaphosa. Capable people will be de ployed, but those who do not do their work will be removed.
“The ANC prom ised to accelerate upgrading informal settlements and de liver title deeds to the communities. “Every metro must become an engine of local development, not an obstacle to it,” said Ramaphosa. Ramaphosa warned municipalities not to make people wait forever for trading licences and for their plans to be approved.
“We do not ask people to forget what did not work.”We ask them to judge us on our willingness to confront fail ure, to confront the weaknesses, to correct our mistakes, to choose better leaders and to enforce accountability,” added Ramaphosa. He said choosing better leaders was demonstrated through the rigorous process the party undertook to identify not only councillors, but also involved communities in the councillor-selection process.