The ANC’s secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said Dada Morero will remain Joburg mayor even though there is tension between him and the new regional leaders of the ANC.
The chairperson of the ANC in Johannesburg Loyiso Masuku has flexed her muscles for the first time since being elected regional chairperson of Johannesburg.
She says non-performing members appointed to municipal positions should pull up their socks or risk being recalled.
Masuku was speaking in Soweto on Sunday at the ANC’s annual provincial celebrations.
“The ANC in Johannesburg is clear that we are going to drag deployees out of their comfort zone. Deployees must work for their communities, the time of sitting in air conditioned offices in Johannesburg is finished.
“We want people to be on the ground, whether you are a councillor, a chief whip, you are an MMC or an Executive mayor, we want to see you on the ground serving the people of Johannesburg.
“We demand it because the ANC has to hold its deployees accountable. We are very clear that we need to go back to the people. All of that will fulfil the mandate of the National Executive Committee (NEC) which says we need to fix local government.”
“We are not going to fix local government sitting in our offices,” she said.
‘Time for preferences has come to an end’
Masuku said the ANC in Johannesburg will focus on strengthening its grass root support base.
It is not clear if Masuku’s comments are directed to her political nemesis Dada Morero, who remains the mayor of Johannesburg, despite losing his title as chairperson of the ANC in Joburg.
Morero has been criticised for not being on the ground, as many communities in the region struggle with dry taps.
She said it is time for the region to unite and stop squabbling about the result of the elective conference which saw her being elected the first female chairperson of the ANC in Johannesburg.
The conference took place in Woodmead in December last year.
“Now we need to make sure that the ANC succeeds. We have to unite and work collectively to make sure that Gauteng ANC has all its municipalities back.
“We cannot do that if we are still not greeting each other because we have a different preference. The time for preferences has come to an end. We are now on a path of renewal to make sure the ANC succeeds in the local government elections.”
ALSO READ: Morero under fire for broken promise to keep Joburg clean and safe after G20
Service delivery affected by ANC politics
She said disunity in the region is a weakness and an obstacle to service delivery.
“Therefore, we must never allow it,” he said.
Masuku said coalition arrangements in Johannesburg were hindering the party from implementing their own manifesto in communities.
“We are tired of coalition arrangements,” she said.
Lesufi in full support of Masuku
Meanwhile, at the same gathering Gauteng ANC co-convenor Panyaza Lesufi said the ANC in the province had received a complaint from the region that some deployees do not want to work with the newly elected leaders in Joburg.
“We have unanimously given your regional leadership an instruction that those that do not want to work they must be removed and replaced by those that do not want to work.”
Lesufi said he was embarrassed on Sunday morning when he went to church and the pastor complained to him that there is no water in his church.
“There are people in Midrand that do not have water for days comrades, if we play with power, we are taking ourselves out of power and those that are given the mandate to ensure that there is service delivery.
“If you do not want to work, step aside so that those that are ready can go an execute the tasks,” he said.
He called for those who had lost at the ANC’s elective conference in December to accept the outcome.
There are claims that the elective conference had elements of vote rigging and the use of money to buy votes.
“There is no one that has taken this conference to court and as we stand there is no dispute about this conference. There is no dispute against the leadership of Johannesburg and we stand firm with the leadership of Johannesburg.
“The message is simple, if you lose the conference accept the outcome, and prepare yourself for the next conference.
“There must be no one, comrades, that must be in a conference mode forever,” he said.
NOW READ: Morero will not have a peaceful year, says political analyst
Support Local Journalism
Add The Citizen as a Preferred Source on Google and follow us on Google News to see more of our trusted reporting in Google News and Top Stories.