Action will be taken against African National Congress mayors and councillors failing to live up to expectations, President Thabo Mbeki warned on Friday.
In his weekly newsletter on the ANC website, Mbeki wrote that he is confident the ANC’s candidate mayors — elected by municipal councils — will occupy their positions as servants of the people, committed to advance the agenda of the national democratic revolution at the local level.
”But as we have also made clear, our movement will, within the context of the law, take action to withdraw any of our mayors and councillors who betray this commitment or otherwise consistently violate the oath which all our councillors pledged to honour,” he said.
ANC mayors and councillors are expected to study and understand the party’s vision of fundamental social transformation intended to bring about a better life for all, and to put in place practical and realistic programmes for this.
They are expected to honour and respect the ANC’s value system and morality and its unwavering commitment to serve the people.
Further, they should improve their understanding of the managerial, professional and technical requirements necessary for the effective delivery of goods and services by the local government system.
They should also constantly review, monitor and evaluate their work to correct any mistakes quickly and use their successes to accelerate service delivery and development at the local level.
Mbeki said the March 1 election results once again confirmed the confidence of the masses in the ANC as the best representative of their hopes and aspirations.
”They expect that the new municipal authorities will build on the progress made since 1994 further to accelerate the advance towards the achievement of the central objective of a better life for all,” he said.
”Our cadres deployed at the national and provincial spheres of government must also understand that they have an obligation to work with, and assist, the municipalities to meet the expectations of the people.
”We should therefore not only make demands on our mayors and councillors, but should also assist them to access the human and material resources that will enable them to discharge their responsibilities to the people.
”Thus the new cadres we require for the current phase of the national democratic revolution must not only be good politicians. They must also be good developmental activists, ready to lift pick and shovel side by side with the people to end the blight of poverty and underdevelopment that continues to afflict many of our communities and millions of our people,” Mbeki said. — Sapa