Clossing Address by ANC West Rand Chairperson

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CLOSING ADDRESS OF THE REGIONAL CHAIPERSON OF THE ANC WEST RAND REGION ON THE 19TH OCTOBER 2014 MOGALE CENTENARY HALL, KRUGERSDORP

Members of the Provincial Executive Committee of the ANC Gauteng

Regional leaders of the Leagues and MKMVA

Alliance leaders present

MDM Structures

Distinguished guest

Fellow delegates

Comrades and Friends

 

It is an honour and privilege to stand in front of delegates mandated by members and structures to present a closing address to this 9TH West Rand ANC Regional Conference. This 9th Conference will go down as one of the conferences to be remembered in history in that it is held in the month of October, a month of OR Tambo, the late President General of the ANC who led the organisation under very trying times of our struggle for freedom for 30 years.

The month of October is also an important month for the SACP, as it is a RED Month (RED OCTOBER). The Communists use this month to regroup and build its membership in  memory of the Russian Revolution that marked the creation of Socialist State which did not all influence the Soviet Union State but  Internationally. This therefore makes October a revolutionary month that must in the main be about strengthening the unity of the Alliance. Something     OR Tambo lived for both in theory and practice.

This conference covered under the theme “United in Action to Reposition West Rand for the Advancement of Radical Social and Economic Transformation” better defined by four main resolutions namely, Organizational Renewal, Radical Social Transformation, Radical Economic Transformation and Transformation of State and Governance. This theme shall guide the work of this REC collective you have elected for the next 3 years. Allow me therefore to make the following summarised understanding of what this the means:

United Action:  You have elected an REC that is united; have a combination of skills and competencies, but most importantly an REC that is true to the character of the ANC, which is non-racial organisation that shall also transcend tribal tendencies used before to keep the region trapped in the past.

This REC working with the ANC Branches, the Leagues and MKMVA shall champion the unity of the Alliance and of the people of the West Rand. The unity of the Alliance shall be the game-changer in the politics of the region given the historical relations in our region. OR Tambo better explains what we want to achieve as the Alliance in West Rand in his tribute to Moses Mabhida in his statement at Mabhida’s funeral in Maputo on 29th of March 1986 and I quote “Moses Mabhida knows that the durability of the Alliance between the ANC, the Communist Party and Trade Union Movement lay in strengthening each as an independent formation and in securing their cooperation on an entirely voluntary basis.  He therefore always worked to ensure that this formation respected one another and develop among them a deep seated feeling of revolutionary unity and interdependence”. This leadership therefore comrades will not succumb to unity that will be used by anyone as blackmail, whenever decisive actions are taken to ensure that we move forward. Unity must therefore mean that once leadership is elected it must lead without fear or favour, and there must be no confusion on who has been given the mandate to lead, and what could have a contest before the majority finalize their preference on who must assume leadership responsibility.

Repositioning West Rand: We are a region that has emerged from factional battles that made us to spend more time on ourselves than the interest of the broader membership and society in general. The posture of the West Rand in 2010 marked the beginning of repositioning of the Region as an important player in contributing to the building of unity in our Province. This posture has been maintained in different ways in the life of Gauteng ANC as documented in the ANC reports.

The repositioning in the nest 3 to 6 years will shall focus on development politics that seeks to better the lives of the rank and file of out membership and the people of the West Rand, This shall be done in an integrated approach that seeks to harness the work of Parliamentary Constituency Office, Provincial Government Department and Local government with ANC REC as the strategic centre of power in the Region given the necessary leadership.

We will not be dragged in to petty factional fights this can continue to undermine the developmental agenda of this Region, however where personal or factional interest cross the line, the provision of the constitution shall apply irrespective of who is involved. Every public representative or strategic cadre from this region will now be the West Rand Development ambassadors, and we therefore appeal to our ANC PEC and Alliance, as well as National and Provincial Government, working with our municipalities, to support our effort to turn this Region around.

Organisational Renewal:

Building vibrant and dynamic branches supported by REC deployees and Sub-regional leaders will be our focus. In the context of Imvuselelo campaign the vibrancy and dynamism will be informed by consistent political education programme, membership recruitment, renewal and campaigns on International solidarity. That must help us to maintain constant engagement with the membership and the community in general. This shall be complimented by embracing the use of technology to complement our traditional contact methods with constituencies’ i.e positive use of social networks platforms.

The leagues will receive the undivided attention by this leadership collective, and this shall be both in terms of leadership and membership level of the leagues. The next 3 years must be used to ensure that the leagues play an important role in sustaining the life and relevance of the ANC to the constituencies they are meant to serve. The ANC will work with MKMVA to ensure that they are integrated in the programmes of the ANC and the plight of ex combatants receives the attention it deserves.

The ANC as the leader of the Alliance shall ensure there a functional alliance in the region. This we shall do by working side by side with the Alliance structures in strengthening structures at all level. An Alliance Regional Political Council and the Secretariat shall ensure this happens guided by an agreed joint programme of Action.

Radical Social Transformation:

The Commission resolutions as prioritised shall be implemented as resolved. However, the ANC leadership in this region will engage with all interested and affected stakeholders on the following:  

Mainstreaming of Youth and Gender

The employment of Youth and gender coordinators in Executive Mayor’s offices has not proven to be the most effective way of addressing this matter mostly due to skills deployed and other resource constraints. This leadership shall be reviewing this within the municipalities in order to ensure every department under the coordination of this desk in the Executive Mayor’s office is held accountable in this regard. The youth and the women league in particular shall be engaged by the ANC ROBs on this matter.

Decisive spatial framework

All our municipalities must complete land audits by January 2015. This must include the status of land portions that were made available for development whether through partnerships or other development options. The land audit will form the basis of our ANC Lekgotla in February next year, where the region will develop an action plan on how the land assets can help us redress apartheid spatial planning. In his regard no sale of land to private land until the land audit has been finalized, this includes leases. We have to be decisive on this matter as it will also go a long way in addressing property relations in this region.    

Radical Economic Transformation

The 12th Provincial Conference resolutions, SONA and SOPA, clarified the big plans in realizing an inclusive economy, therefore those are noted. The regional/municipal level services like grass cutting, maintenance of roads, sewer, streets lights and others shall be targeted for cooperatives of Youth and Women in particular and wards in general. Municipal policies must target locals and where there is no capacity a70/30 cooperation must be implemented within the framework of the law. This must be supported by the provincial government whenever it procures for projects and programmes in the West Rand, as our experience has confirmed that bigger projects coming to the region only target local labour than sustaining business entities or cooperatives in the West Rand.

 

Transformation of the State and Governance

Conference has emerged with resolution on this matter. However, it is important to note the following:

1. Whilst West Rand is not a metro we will continue to pursue an agreement with the MEC and the Premier on the legalisation of transitional measures for the West Rand to start working as a unicity as part of our preparation for a metro system of government for the 2021 Local Government Elections.

2. In the meantime the district government coordination role shall be strengthened through a shared services approach in a number of service delivery areas. The transitional measures for the merger of Randfontein and Westonaria shall commence immediately and that includes the appointment of the steering committee and transformation manager by the MEC after consultation with the ROB.

3. In the run up to the 12th Provincial Conference and this 9th Regional Conference some PCO’s and WRDM strategic offices were used to coordinate activities like objections in official letter heads of the institutions. No doubt these activities were an abusive use of state resources to undermine the internal ANC processes. These tendencies shall not be tolerated in this term of office, and PCOs in particular shall serve as sub-regional coordination office with the regional PCO serving as an office of the Regional Chairperson. The staffs of the PCO remains the staff of the ANC paid through the ANC Parliamentary Caucus.

Lastly comrades, all service delivery response teams in municipalities must be immediately reactivated to ensure all service delivery queries from our branches and society in general are attended or responded to within a 7 day cycle. When there is no response expect us to intervene in a municipality to avoid protests that can undermine our 2016 local government elections campaign.

Conclusion

Once again thanks for the confidence you have shown on the ability of this collective you have elected to reposition this region. The unity and discipline shown by the overwhelming number of delegates in this conference will be our source of inspiration as we lead without fear or favour.

Comrade we know the road ahead maybe tough owing to internal challenges in the organisation especially after conferences and coming NGC and list processes and destructive tendencies of opposition parties like the EFF however, the unity of the ANC in the region will be our guidance. This being the month of OR Tambo allows me to quote him on the importance of the unity of the ANC. This he said in the 48th ANC National Conference in 1991, in Durban after given landmarks of his 30 years presidency. ‘Before I sit down I wish to make a few observations: we did not tear ourselves apart because of lack of progress at times. We were always ready to accept our mistakes and correct them. Above all we succeeded to foster and defend the unity of the ANC and the unity of our people in general. Even in bleak moments, we were never in doubt regarding the winning of freedom. We have never been in doubt that the people’s cause shall triumph’.

We will work with everyone to reposition this region for the advancement of radical social and economic transformation because, we are jealous of no one, we hold no grudges against anyone; we salute the African National Congress.

Sizosebenza nabani na ukuguqula isimo sale ngingqi ukwenzela sikwazi ukuzisa utshintsho olululo kwintlalo noqoqosho kuba Asinamona, Asinanzondo. Siyayidumisa iANC