Now that the municipal councils have been constituted and new local governments are in place, the African National Congress’s principal order of the day is ”Let the work begin”, South African President Thabo Mbeki says in his weekly newsletter.
”Happily, the overwhelming majority of the municipalities have acted to respect this directive. And yet the truth is that there are some municipalities governed by our movement in which this order of the day is being wilfully ignored by people who carry our membership cards,” the president said.
He added that there were a ”few instances” where ANC councillors, supported by factions within the structures of the party, were openly defying the decisions of the constitutional structures by refusing to accept those chosen by these structures as mayoral candidates.
”Those who engage in these activities do not care that what they are doing is bringing the ANC, of which they are members, into disrepute. They are not concerned that by their actions they seek to weaken our movement’s organisational discipline, condemn it to a state of anarchy, and thus reduce its capacity to lead the people and discharge its historic mission,” Mbeki wrote.
He said that there was ”a grossly negative tendency” in the ANC’s ranks, to which the movement and the overwhelming majority of members were fundamentally opposed.
”This is the abuse of membership of our movement to gain positions of state power in order to use these positions for personal enrichment and benefit. This is what lies at the base of some of the factional struggles that have emerged over which particular individual member of the ANC should be mayor, as opposed to any other member of our movement,” Mbeki stated.
He added that the ANC had made a commitment to the masses of its people that it would ensure that the councillors they elected honoured the undertakings made.
Mbeki said that the order of the day to the ANC councillors elected on March 1 and the ANC Mayors chosen by the municipal councils, is that they must:
chart the way forward to a truly free and prosperous nation, continuing to open the new national chapter of freedom and dignity;
translate the movement’s overall perspective, as reflected in the Local Government Election Manifesto and other documents, into specific programmes of action relevant to their areas, relating to various important matters such as economic development and job creation, housing, water provision and health care;
ensure the implementation of the resultant reconstruction and development programmes, to address the concerns of the masses of our people, focused on the achievement of the objective of building a better life for all;
mobilise the people to become active participants in improving their quality of life, inculcating among all the people the culture of taking responsibility for the task of reconstruction and development within the spirit of the people’s contract;
ensure that in the weeks and months and years that lie ahead they tackle the endemic corruption, waste and inefficiency that characterised the apartheid government, refusing to allow the entrenchment of these unacceptable phenomena in the democratic body politic;
fully appreciate the fact it is at the level of local government that the ANC’s elected representatives come into physical contact with the problems of the people, the level at which reconstruction and development has to take place;
inform themselves about the conditions in their particular area very thoroughly, and maintain close and regular contact with the people: they must therefore go to the squatters or informal settlements, and other areas, enter people’s homes and see how people live, talk to and listen to them, and also explain to them, on a regular basis, what the government is doing, giving them a feedback as to what the government is doing to address their needs
;
operate as hard-working men and women who work 24 hours a day to discharge their duties and honour the pledges made to the people; and,
work to ensure that the movement is united around the clear vision spelt out in the Local Government Election Manifesto and other policy documents, a vision that guides the movement within and outside government. — I-Net Bridge