Africa-Press – South-Africa. Cyril Ramaphosa has warned that, should the party’s structures remain at loggerheads, it will stand no chance in next year’s national elections.
“We are exactly 11 months away from next year’s elections, and what I have witnessed today in the North West was that I am leading a divided party,” Ramaphosa said.
“If you want us to lose in next year’s elections, continue with the divisions that I saw today, and I promise you we will lose,” Ramaphosa warned.
The ANC president was speaking during a candid discussion between the ANC’s national working committee (NWC) and the party’s North West regions and branches on Saturday.
His comments came after the ANC’s Ngaka Modiri Molema Regional deputy secretary in the North West, Karabo Magagane, outlined a bleak state of affairs in the region’s political, organisational, and governance, followed by even more gloomy assessments by branch and regional leaders.
Magagane said about 20% of the 103 ANC branches in the province’s five regions – Mahikeng, Ditsobotla, Ramotshere Moiloa, Tswaing, and Ratlou – were not in good standing.
She added that the region’s municipalities suffered from leadership that lacked commitment “with periodic ill-discipline in Mahikeng and general ill-discipline in Ditsobotla.”
According to Magagane, councillors also strayed from party stances in areas with coalitions and advanced the desires of other parties they partnered with.
During the discussion Magagane, who is not popular with the regions and branches, was booed throughout the delivery of her report leading to ANC NWC member Barbara Creecy having to intervene on numerous occasions.
When regional and branch members were allowed to make submissions, they, according to Ramaphosa, called for the dissolution of the provincial and regional structures – calls that the ANC president described as being motivated by factionalism.
“Our divisions that I am seeing today are factional. This is the illness in our organisation… I am afraid that I have to tell you that the divisions that I see are concerning. We are members of the same family but are deeply divided.
“We are facing the most difficult elections in 2024, but some of you are calling for the province and regions to be dissolved. When the ANC is divided right down the middle, we stand no chance in next year’s elections, but when we are united, we win,” said Ramaphosa.
The party’s NWC has been to two other provinces before descending on the North West.
The NWC was in Limpopo, where it also stressed the need for unity and dealing with corruption before heading to KwaZulu-Natal, where it also addressed concerns around the school feedings scheme and divisions within the top leadership.
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