Africa-Press – South-Africa. ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile has warned that the ANC is facing an existential crisis and also risked losing the 2024 national elections should it continue on its path of disunity.
Mashatile said this in his opening remarks at the start of the ANC Mpumalanga conference at Witbank Dam in Emalahleni on Friday.
The start of the conference was marred by a court battle that attempted to halt the proceedings.
Although the application for an urgent interdict was subsequently dismissed, Mashatile cautioned warring Mpumalanga party members, saying internal functions threatened the ANC’s role as a leader of society.
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“It is not an exaggeration to say that our movement is facing an existential crisis. We must act now to arrest this decline. Renewal, therefore, cannot be postponed. Part of what we need to do is to fix the poor state of many of our branches and structures.
“This is particularly important as we prepare for the elections in 2024. We must stop focusing on ourselves and more on the needs of the people as a whole.”
He encouraged the Mpumalanga party members to keep their “traditional support base energised, by continuously engaging with them”, calling on ANC branches to “always maintain regular and dynamic contact with communities” and not only engage them during election time.
“Our branches must be rooted in communities. They must lead and give direction to the daily struggles of communities. They must be responsive to problems faced by communities,” said Mashatile.
He added the ANC must, through its words and actions, “seek to regain the confidence and respect of South Africans so that they can continue entrusting us with their hopes and aspirations”.
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“Indeed, our position as a leader of society is not a given. It is earned. Whenever we have made mistakes, we must humble ourselves and acknowledge them.”
Mpumalanga is the ANC’s second-biggest voting bloc after KwaZulu-Natal and is seen as its stronghold; however, the party suffered huge blows in two Mpumalanga municipalities – Lekwa and Steve Tshwete – during last year’s local government elections.
As such, the national leadership believes should the prevailing disputes continue, the party might further decline in electoral support come the 2024 elections.
Mashatile, therefore, said, “it is a strong and united ANC that can strengthen social cohesion, nation-building, reconciliation, and national healing”.
“We require tried and tested cadres whose only motivation is the genuine love they have for their country and its people, as well their movement. In other words, we need true revolutionaries, organised under the banner of a strong and united ANC, to succeed in our quest for radical change.”
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