STAFF REPORTER|
ANC Treasurer-General Paul Mashatile told party supporters in the Western Cape that South Africans were losing patience with a government taking forever to deliver basic services to the people.
Speaking on Saturday during the Anton Fransch Memorial Lecture in the Western Cape, Mashatile said people want to see a sense of urgency.
“This thing of taking five years to implement a simple thing must go away. When we leave out of that conference (55th National Elective Conference in Nasrec), we must hit the ground running. There is no time to waste,” he said.
He told ANC supporters that it was important for the leaders who will be elected in December to do things with urgency.
“There is no time, people want to get out of poverty. People want to get jobs. People must look at us and see speed of execution,” he added.
Mashatile said the ANC’s 55th Elective conference will see more young people emerging because the organisation want to do things with speed.
He said there is a need to narrow the social distance between the ANC and the people.
Mashatile, who is eying the position of ANC Deputy President, said the ANC must always live among communities.
“A renewed ANC is not the one preoccupied with its own dynamics. It’s an ANC that is in touch with the people and thier needs. Let us not abandon the people. Let’s renewal be about renewing the commitment about the values of honesty, selflessness and of democratic debates,” he said, urging leaders to appreciate self criticism.
“Let us not complain when we are criticized because criticism makes the ANC grow stronger,” he said.
Criticising his party’s own leaders, he said it is a fact that most of ANC structures are currently weak.
He said this was a major problem because a weakened ANC will not be able to solve societal problems.
“An ANC that spends time solving the problems of the communities and not its own internal problems. We must not spend more time on factional battles. Part of the renewal process must include strengthing the Branches of the ANC working Alliance structures,” said Mashatile.
Anton Fransch is one of those ANC leaders were looking to for inspiration for challenges of the moment. The best way to honour him is to offer the people a genuine renewal, he said.
Mashatile said he will be leading a campaign next year to defeat the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape.
“The ANC government will put people first. We want a better life for the people, not just a few,” he said.
Mashatile visited the site of the battle where Fransch was killed in Athlone before delivering the lecture at St Mary Catholic Church Hall in the afternoon.
INSIDE POLITICS|
