By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
A veterans league showdown looms as the ANC Veterans’ League (ANCVL) holds its national conference this weekend at the Birchwood Hotel to elect new leaders.
The showdown will see former ANCVL president Snuki Zikalala go head-to-head against veteran Tony Yengeni for league president position.
The elections come two years after the ANC national working committee (NWC) confirmed the disbandment of the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) and threw its support behind a process of amalgamating it with the rival MK National Council (MKNC).
The league of the veterans has subsequently been run through a task team that last year supported President Cyril Ramaphosa’s second term as ANC president and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as its preferred candidate for party deputy president.
The elective congress for the veterans comes just a week after the ANC Women’s League elected Sisisi Tolashe as its president, while three weeks ago the ANC Youth League elected its new president, Collen Malatsi, after eight years without a formal structure.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has vowed to keep up the pressure on cabinet minister to speed up the implementation of the party’s resolutions.
Mbalula addressed the ANC veterans league gathering in Boksburg on Friday, after he arrived two hours late.
He was scheduled to open the conference at 13:00 on Friday, according to the official programme, but only spoke at around 15:00.
Mbalula had earlier drawn the ire of former president Thabo Mbeki, who was sitting next to anti-apartheid activist Sophie de Bruyn.
De Bruyn was part of the iconic women’s march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on 9 August 1956 – which is now the official Women’s Day.
When he finally addressed the conference, Mbalula asked the party’s veterans to help the organisation enforce discipline and to do away with what he called “delinquent behaviour”.
Mbalula told the veterans that the party, not individuals, is in charge of the government.
His remarks comes amid simmering tensions between Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe over solutions for the energy crisis.
This follows reports that both ministers had asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to protect his cabinet from attacks by Mbalula.
However, Mbalula said the party has the right to make demands of its deployees in government
“The centre is this country is the ANC. We would also urge the ministers to move with speed. Those who are sleeping on the job, we are watching them. We don’t have time for those who sleep on the job. Work must be done and be evident, that’s what we want.”
“By so saying it doesn’t mean who is in charge, Ramaphosa or Mbalula? The ANC is in charge, Ramaphosa is deployed by the ANC as President of the ANC, Minister must not fear, they must know that they serve the people, and when you are a minister you must not think that it’s given that you can stay there forever. We are watching you, “he warned.
Zikalala, who was the league’s conference convenor, gave a bleak picture of the ANC in his political report.
He called out what he said was “backsliding” in the weakening of political systems, as well as “unethical leaders [who] hijack democratic processes and contest for positions to capture power”.
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Video Courtesy of MYANC.