President Jacob Zuma was given a mixed reception at the Gauteng ANC provincial general council in Pretoria.
|||Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma was given mixed signals of song, chanting of his name and then disapproval at the Gauteng ANC provincial general council (PGC) in Irene, Pretoria on Friday.
Zuma was a surprise keynote speaker at the ANC Gauteng PGC after the province’s resolve last month that “he should do the right thing” following the damning Constitutional Court ruling on the Nkandla matter.
The ANC in Gauteng is holding a three day PGC to discuss among others organisational matters and preparations for the local government elections.
After what appeared to be a warm welcome for Zuma at St George’s hotel, ANC Gauteng chairman Paul Mashatile told him that the PEC’s stance on the Nkandla was not an anti-Zuma but a principle one.
“When we pronounce our stance we are wrongly perceived to be anti Zuma,” said Mashatile. “We in Gauteng want to categorically pronounce that we are not anti President of the ANC. But when difficult matters come to the fore we don’t bury our heads in the sand. We confront them.”
Mashatile said all ANC structures in Gauteng discussed the issues of the ConCourt matter and that while the Provincial executive accepted Zuma’s apology, branches have been allowed to express themselves.
“Our strength in Gauteng is that we always discuss matters in a frank and open manner. We confront difficult issues without fear or favour. We have no hidden agendas in Gauteng!
“We are guided, at all times, by the commitment to serve our people. I therefore urge you, comrade delegates, that we spend this weekend focusing on what we have done right, as well as the problems and challenges that our people are facing rather than waste time dealing with our internal squabbles.” Mashatile added.
Delegates to the PGC received Zuma warmly in song and dance however others could be heard booing although they were largely drowned out.
Mashatile appealed to ANC members in the province to spend the weekend discussing the upcoming local government elections but also tackle organisational matters.
Zuma in his address lectured delegates about what the “true meaning of freedom and power” is.
He said ANC members needed to adhere to a few things in order to fully understand what freedom meant, quoting former ANC president AB Xuma.
In a veiled response to Mashatile’s earlier remarks Zuma said squabbles and hatred among comrades in the party weakened the ANC and helped its opponents.
“Instead of discussing how we can move South Africa forward we discuss what is the position of Gauteng for 2017, or what is the position of the Free State in 2017,” he said to laughter. “If you understand freedom, everyday you must work for the ANC to be united not introduce new things.”
He said without the party’s unity it will be difficult to achieve full freedom . He said disruption of ANC meetings for nomination of councillors was a sign of failure by some to understand freedom.
He added that people who understood power did not play with it. “My feeling is that at some point we don’t really understand the meaning of power. Election is an instrument for power,” he said. “You will lose power if you don’t understand it.”
Zuma said the ANC’s election winning margin has declined since 1994 and this meant the party was beginning to lose power.
He urged ANC members to go back to basics and renew the party’s mandate with the people before August 3.
Zuma likened going to elections to going to war. He said the achievements of the ANC government in 20 years of democracy were “unparalleled anywhere in the continent”.
Independent Media