Johannesburg – With all the challenges facing the ANC, it has been pinpointed that the party is not as united, cohesive and effective as its supporters expect it to be.
As a result, in the past few years, the party has seen a drastic loss of members to other political parties.
“We are not united. Our disunity continues at the expense of the support that we should get from the people of South Africa because, when our people see us disunited, they walk away from us,” President Cyril Ramaphosa conceded.
The subject of unity also stirred disorder at the plenary as a group of KZN delegates continued to disrupt Ramaphosa as he was making a political report in which he mentioned that the lack of unity was widespread in the ANC.
“We need to acknowledge that, despite our efforts over the last five years, we are not as united, cohesive or effective as we should be,” Ramaphosa said.
“Some of the divisions that existed before the 54th national conference continue within the organisation, including within the national executive committee. As we anticipated, the actions we were mandated to take against corruption and state capture have at times caused friction amongst us.
“As we implemented conference resolutions, some leaders – including NEC members – have had to step aside pending the conclusion of criminal proceedings against them, and others have been required to present themselves to the integrity commission.”
The party said it had been clear that unity must be based on principle and the observance of the revolutionary values of the movement.
It pointed out that the experience of recent years was that disunity did not arise from ideological, political or strategic differences but from a contest over positions in the state and the resources that were attached to them.
“In recent times, we have observed tensions within the (tripartite) alliance. Some of these tensions arise from our inability to engage effectively and regularly on key issues, while others arise from the broader challenge of an ANC government that is, in effect, in an employer-employee relationship with a significant portion of Cosatu members. This is a complexity that we must understand and resolve.”
The Star
