COSATU IN THE NORTH-WEST PROVINCE CALLS FOR DECISIVE LEADERSHIP FROM THE ANC IPC ON THE MAMUSA SAGA.

Monday, 22 November 2021

The Congress of South African Trade Unions in the North-West province has learned with disgust of the betrayal of the will of the people of Mamusa and the mandate of the ANC by organisationally ill-disciplined and politically immature individuals deployed as councillors by the ANC in the Mamusa Local Municipality.

The African National Congress was mandated by the voters in the Mamusa Local Municipality to govern the municipality working together with the community to build a better Mamusa. However, this mandate was betrayed when some ANC councillors veered from the mandate of the organisation, decided to carry the mandate of dark forces and vote with the opposition to elect an EFF councillor as Speaker in a municipality that is outrightly won by the ANC.

These organisationally ill-disciplined and politically immature elements have shown the middle finger to the efforts of the liberation movement of renewal, hard work, development, self-correction and accountability. It is for this reason COSATU in the province is calling on the Interim Provincial Committee of the African National Congress to exercise decisive leadership on the conduct of these councillors.

The ANC, over the weekend, subjected candidates for positions of Mayor, Speaker and Whip through intense and rigorous interviews to ensure that it deploys the correct comrades who understand its renewal, self-correction and accountability.

However, the efforts of the ANC to rebuild and renew effective local government that put the people first are undermined by those councillors who chose the path of division, conflict, and destruction.

As COSATU in the province we refuse to let our efforts of criss-crossing the province encouraging workers and our communities to vote for the ANC during the local government elections to be pushed down the drain by dark forces with gargantuan appetites for control and opulence.

It is on that understanding that we call on the Interim Provincial Committee of the ANC to investigate why and in whose interest did these ANC councillors defy the mandate of the organisation and vote an EFF councillor as Speaker in a municipality where the ANC won with outright majority. Thereafter, the ANC IPC and IRC must act decisively to send a strong message to whoever would want to copy the ill-discipline displayed in Mamusa that the ANC has passed the stage of impunity.

You have made commitments to the voters, and it is at this early stage that you must demonstrate the willingness to live up to your commitments.

For more information, please contact the COSATU North-West Provincial Secretary, Cde Kopano Konopi at 082 339 5836.