By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Newly-elected ANC Veterans League president Snuki Zikalala says, local government coalitions will not be part of their renewal process as they delay service delivery to the people.
“We cannot invest our energy in coalition politics. Coalitions don’t work for the people,” Zikalala said.
Zikalala addressed the media at the ANC headquarters, Luthuli House, Johannesburg, on Monday, following the Veterans League’s third national elective conference at Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni this past weekend.
The veterans league, comprising ANC members who have served at least 40 years in the organisation and its allied movements, elected its new leadership.
The new ANC Veterans’ League leaders elected over the weekend also include Mavuso Msimang (deputy president), Ilva Mackay Langa (secretary-general), Connie September (deputy secretary-general) and Fazel Randera (treasurer).
The league also elected its 27-member National Executive Committee, which includes Joel Netshitenzhe, Frank Chikane, Dipuo Peters, Nora Fakude and Sue Rabkin.
Zikalala called on the ANC to review their participation in coalition arrangements as they are costly for the ANC and are not consistent with the framework adopted by the NEC.
This comes after the NEC expressed their disappointment that some of the coalitions in which the ANC is involved are not informed by the framework adopted by the NEC of the ANC. “This is discrediting the movement in the eyes of ordinary people,” Zikalala said.
Zikalala said the resolutions passed by the conference were focused on building the Veteran’s League, renewal of the ANC, and addressing issues of poor service delivery and the current load shedding crisis.
He added that several concrete and implementable proposals were made in respect of renewing the ANC, including tightening membership criteria and strengthening the disciplinary structures and integrity commission.
He said that the league’s conference reasserted the need for an outright victory for the ANC in the 2024 elections.
Describing the elders as the ANC’s “repository of knowledge”, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his closing remarks, that the the league should not only focus on its past victories, but look ahead to how it can shape the governing party’s future. This includes leading the way in the party’s organisational renewal programme.
“Ahead of this conference and the [ANC’s] 55th conference, you took it upon yourselves to own the whole process of renewal of your movement. Veterans represented here have reaffirmed their commitment to the [National Democratic Revolution]. This is articulated in your declaration.
“You have the right to call upon our structures to unite and to get rid of factionalism and to say there should be discipline within the organisation and that we must be well-behaved in meetings of the ANC. You have the right because it is borne out of your experience, your consciousness and who you are,” said Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa believes that the Veterans’ League is in an ideal position to push the renewal project because its members have passed the stage of having an interest in leadership positions in the mother body.