ANC shall never burn – Ramaphosa

ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa has warned ill-disciplined members of the party that the organisation is indestructible.

Ramaposa was opening the Free State elective conference which saw Free State premier, Ace Magashule, retain the provincial chairmanship of the party at Welkom’s Phakisa Race Course on Saturday last week.

Magashule was re-elected unopposed after his challenger, Regime Change leader Mpho Ramakatsa was deemed ineligible to attend the conference and to contest for any position following the disqualification of his branch for failing to comply with prerequisite conference conditions.

The others who retained their positions last week during the conference rerun were Thabo Manyoni as Magashule’s deputy, William Bulwana as provincial secretary, Mamiki Qabathe as deputy secretary, and Msebenzi Zwane as treasurer.

Six members of the ANC led by, Ramakatsa, went to court last year to challenge the validity of the provincial elective conference which elected Magashule and the provincial executive committee (PEC) in Parys. The Constitutional Court nullified the conference and the ANC national executive committee (NEC) subsequently disbanded the PEC and ordered a rerun of the conference.

Likening the party to the biblical burning bush, Ramaphosa charged that the ANC in the Free State was under siege from futile attempts by people hell-bent on burning it.

“You shall never burn the ANC; no matter how many fires you light, the ANC shall never burn because it is an organisation that represents the aspirations of our people. You should recall that the conference is being held following the disbandment of the PEC by the NEC following the court order.

“The circumstances which led the organisation’s internal processes to be decided upon by the courts of law are indicative of the lack of the unity and discipline which defined the leadership of President Oliver Tambo and comrade Chris Hani,” said Ramaphosa.

He added that, while the ruling party respected the right to legal recourse of any individual including ANC members, the emerging culture of taking the organisation to court must be discouraged.

“We must not be naïve to the reality that going to the court opens up space even for non-ANC members to enjoy the underserved privilege of deciding on the legitimacy and appropriateness of decisions of ANC conferences. We must allow the views of the majority and the decisions of higher structures to prevail at all times and contestation must happen in a disciplined and principled manner.

“However, let me remind you that you should always bear in mind that people are not fighting for ideas. They are fighting to win material benefits to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children,” emphasised Ramaphosa.

Commenting on media reports last week that Ramakatsa had hinted at a possible court challenge when he claimed processes in preparation for the conference were similar to those in Parys, ANC national executive committee deployee to the Free State, Malusi Gigaba, said anyone who wanted to take the party to court is at liberty to do so.

“Internal organisational processes will be taken to deal with ill-discipline among members who insisted on taking the party to court without exhausting internal processes to raise grievances. People use courts to try and impose themselves as leaders. It is up to the branches to decide who leads. I am confident we had done everything by the book and satisfied that we did all that we needed to do,” explained Gigaba.

Two hundred and twenty two branches were represented at the conference, enough to form a quorum for the conference. Sixty one branches were disqualified for various reasons.

Re-elected provincial secretary, William Bulwane, said some of these 61 branches did not bring their files to be audited while others could not reach the membership number need to hold branch general meetings.

“Some of these branches were disqualified automatically after failing to submit their files to be audited, including that of Mpho Ramakatsa. It is not a by design that some branches could not participate in the conference. However, we have been given a mandate from the conference that moving forward we must ensure that all branches are in good standing.”