Africa-Press – South-Africa. ANC deputy president hopeful, Paul Mashatile, who has also left the door open for a last-minute bid for the party presidency, has warned that the policies the party would adopt will be far more significant than those who will lead the ANC.
Mashatile on Saturday said the policies adopted by the ANC would affect the lives of most South Africans and therefore deserved more scrutiny than the personalities gunning for the party’s top positions.
“I always get asked about preference regarding positions when we head to the conference. Do you want to be president, or do you want to be deputy? Yet they [delegates] don’t ask me what policies you will adopt.
“When we get to that conference, what we need to ask is if are we going to adopt policies that are going to take our people forward? That must be the first question. Not who is going to be president,” said Mashatile.
He added that the question around “who are the cadres we must then elect” should only be considered once the policy preferences of candidates have been fully ventilated.
Mashatile was addressing the Anton Fransch memorial lecture at St Mary Catholic Church Hall in Athlone Cape Town.
This week marked 33 years since Fransch was killed in what became known as “The Battle of Athlone”.
On 17 November 1989, a 20-year-old Fransch, then a uMkhonto we Sizwe commander, managed to hold off heavily armed apartheid policemen during a gun battle that lasted several hours.
As a tribute to Anton, ANC branches Ward 49 and Ward 31 hosted a joint programme to commemorate his death.
Mashatile said Fransch “paid the ultimate price in order for us to be free.”
He went on to describe him as being “defiant until the very end” and urged current ANC members to exhibit similar qualities.
Mashatile cautioned that the problem with the current crop of ANC members was that they were “T-shirt-wearing cadres” who stood for nothing but their own self-interests.
As such, Mashatile, who has been nominated for the deputy presidency and looks set to be elected with not much opposition, encouraged party delegates to properly vet their preferred candidates and ensure that those that emerge victorious are selfless members who will work for the communities that elected them.
“Our people want to see a sense of urgency. This thing of taking five years to implement simple things must go away.
“When we get out of that conference, we must hit the ground running and must focus on implementation. We can’t take time to implement; our people want to escape poverty,” said Mashatile.
In a surprise turn of events, Mashatile, whose bid for the party deputy presidency looks like a shoo-in this week, did not rule out a last-minute bid for the party’s top office.
Mashatile made the utterances while leading the ANC’s Letsema campaign in North West on Wednesday afternoon.
Asked by journalists whether he would consider gunning for the party’s presidency since he already appeared to be in pole position for deputy presidency, Mashatile did not rule out the possibility saying it would depend on whether branches want him to make the bid and the circumstances leading to his nomination for this position.
“It [whether I accept or not] will depend on what is the reason for that [him being nominated from the floor for the presidency], I think for now let’s stick with what we think the branches are thinking, for now, I don’t know because the envelops are still being counted. When we get to the conference, we will know what the delegates want me to do. So, so far, I would like to leave it like that,” said Mashatile.
His utterances were not well received by the ANC in KZN, with the provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo reportedly stating that the province was reconsidering its support for Mashatile.
The province has openly backed former health minister Zweli Mkhize for the presidency.
On Saturday, Mashatile, in an attempt to win over support from the Western Cape, was adamant that if party members worked together, they could defeat the DA.
“I am personally coming here next year to make sure that we defeat the DA,” Mashatile added.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
