Interim provincial committee (IPC) convenor Lerumo Kalako. Picture: Courtney Africa/African News Agency (ANA) Archives
Cape Town - The ANC in the Western Cape says the resolution of disputes that arose from the nomination of its candidate councillors was not yet finalised.
The party said the process started before the November 1 local government elections and was still continuing.
Briefing the media on Friday, interim provincial committee (IPC) convenor Lerumo Kalako said they were expecting a report on the disputes possibly by early January, because the last report to the interim leadership had indicated that the disputes were still being finalised.
“We were expecting as the provincial leadership that it would be finalised so that we can address those outstanding issues,” he said.
Kalako also said the party’s assessment of the local government elections noted a general electoral decline for the ANC, but there was substantial progress in areas that were considered hostile.
“We have noted and welcome the sharp decline of the DA in 15 municipalities in the province, as well as their drop below 60% generally in the province. This means that slowly but surely, the people of the Western Cape are waking up to the farce that the DA is and has always been,” he said.
Kalako said the ANC successfully wrestled control of a number of municipalities away from the DA such as Beaufort West, Prince Albert, Laingsburg, Central Karoo, Theewaterskloof, Witzenberg and Oudtshoorn, among others.
The coalitions in the municipalities where the ANC entered into agreement with other parties were a work in progress.
“Even now we are still finding each other after we were able to agree on sharing the power and positions in the coalitions. We are still fine-tuning mechanisms for coalition as the different parties.
“There will be some ups and downs but we are in a process as guided by the national leadership under the deputy secretary general to finalise these coalition agreements,” Kalako said.
However, the ANC had set in motion a process to withdraw from the coalition with Independent Congress of South Africa (Icosa) In Kannaland Municipality, where no party obtained outright majority.
“We mandated the region to go in there and address the local structures of the sub-region and inform them about this decision.
“There is no excuse for the comrades to not know. They know that we are withdrawing.
“We will follow up and make sure that we withdraw. Those who refuse to take the instruction will face the consequences,” Kalako said.
It emerged that the council met on Friday, but there was no immediate indication of what transpired.
Kalako added that all the party’s councillors would sign performance agreements after they signed pledges committing to the ANC manifesto, service delivery and a code of conduct.
“This will be compulsory for all ANC councillors in the province,” he said.
mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za
Political Bureau