The Gauteng Provincial Executive Committee convened its ordinary meeting on Saturday, 24 August. This meeting analysed the current political atmosphere both domestically, regionally as well as internationally. The PEC also assessed the overall state of the organisation across the province post the General Elections.

On International Balance of Forces

The PEC deliberated on the ongoing trade and economic wars taking place between the world super powers, and how this affects the economic performance of our country. Notably; the costs of fuel, the costs of importing and exporting as well as the threats to our own labour force because of imminent job losses, pose some of the greatest risks to our ongoing economic pressures.

On Domestic Political Issues

The PEC deliberated on the current issues facing the organisation. We believe that the organisation has been presented with an opportune moment to tackle the matter of intra party political funding. Public discourse on the matter should guide the ANC, in line with its long standing principles of honesty and accountability. The PEC agreed that the historic role that the movement has played South Africa’s journey to democracy  demands that the ANC should never be at odds with our citizens, and it is in the interest of both the party and society at large that this matter is dealt with sooner rather than later.

Fundamental questions about how we contest and elect leadership have now been raised and it is clear that this process has to be beyond reproach, must be respectable and dignified, and must stand the test of public scrutiny, regardless of the fact that it remains an internal process.

The PEC has impressed upon all its members, its structures across the length and breadth of the province to desist from engaging publicly on internal matters and misrepresenting the organisation’s position on issues. All codes of conduct, disciplinary and related policies will be enforced as we drive the renewal process. We reaffirmed the point that the organisation creates many platforms for engagement, and these should be used.

On the State of the Organisation

The PEC took stock of the state of the organisation across the province by interrogating the strength and effectiveness of our structures post the general elections. Notably, the ANC has been able to win back two wards previously held by the DA in the City of Joburg and Ekurhuleni respectively. This demonstrates that our programme to reconnect with society and to respond to the critical issues raised by our communities is yielding desired results. We are winning back public confidence a fact which is also finding expression at the ballot.

Our caucuses in both Tshwane and Joburg continue to raise concerns on behalf of residents. We note with concern the political administration that the DA has placed its caucus under in the City of Tshwane. We view this as an admission of guilt by the DA that their administration has failed the people of Tshwane.

The PEC received a demonstration of the new membership system which seeks to implement the NASREC Conference resolutions which mandated the NEC to improve the current membership system. We believe the system will go a long way in dealing with endemic problems found in manual systems and will allow us to have credible, trustworthy membership data.

What the Organisational Report affirmed was that our programme anchored on the cardinal values of Unity, Intergrity, Service and Renewal as agreed to by the 13th Provincial Conference continues to guide the work of the movement across the province.

On e-Tolls

The PEC appreciated the fact that work is underway by the technical team appointed by the President and led by the Minister of Transport to find a lasting solution on the e-Tolls issue and that further consultations with civil society groups are taking place.

Noting the developments, the PEC has committed to launch a public action to intensify the campaign against e-tolls using two pillars of continuous engagement with the national leadership of the ANC and government and embarking on the pickets during the Transport Month in  October should there be no tangible progress on the matter.

On the NEC Decision on Replacement on a Male MEC

The PEC took note of the decision of the NEC as it relates to the deployment of party members to the provincial Cabinet. The PEC affirmed its unflinching subscription to the principle of democratic centralism and the authority of higher structures within the movement to take decisions that have policy implications.

The PEC appreciated the series of engagements the Provincial Office Bearers (POB) have had with structures of the movement including the Alliance on the implication of the NEC decision. Noting that there is still further engagement between the POBs with the national leadership, the PEC committed to abide by the final determination that will emerge out of this process.

The PEC reiterated the need for the comrades deployed in cabinet to remain steadfastly focused on implementing the ANC manifesto in line with the five year manifesto implementation plan adopted by the PEC Lekgotla in June 2019. Various Members of the Executive Committee who are part of the Provincial Cabinet led by Comrade David Makhura are expected to produce comprehensive plans on how they will be implementing the manifesto as per the 100-days timeframe.

On the Local Government Summit

In an effort to align the implementation of priorities across the municipalities and the provincial government, the PEC held a successful Local Government Summit on Monday, 25 August 2019. The summit took stock of the work done by municipalities towards the delivery of basic services. An honest assessment of the weaknesses of the local government sphere was conducted and the need for support from provincial and national government was emphasised. Priority was also placed on aligning economic, spatial and financial planning.

The summit mandated deployees across the two spheres of government to accelerate efforts to speed up service delivery and called on the Provincial Government and Municipalities to work together in an integrated manner; to revitalize the economies of our municipalities, with emphasis on the West Rand and Sedibeng.

The following non-negotiables summarises the key outcomes of the summit:

• Implementation of a single tier system of governance which will align urban planning in the province, taking into account the new District Model of Governance being introduced by the national Department of Cooperative Governance.
• That all municipalities in Gauteng must provide basic service without fail.
• That the fight against corruption and maladministration must be intensified and the ANC must in line with society’s expectations, act decisively irrespective of who is involved in unethical conduct.
• The summit noted the governance challenges in municipalities, which contribute to trust deficit between the municipalities and the residents and called for drastic action to be taken to bring back public confidence in the ANC-led government.  It called on the ANC to urgently implement mechanisms for holding our deployees accountable.

Conclusion

The Provincial Executive Committee expressed our unconditional support to the leadership collective elected at the 54th National Conference. The PEC believes in the leadership of the NEC and has no doubt that this leadership collective is hard at work towards implementing conference resolutions. Any attempts to derail the agenda to transform society into one that is prosperous, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and united; must be treated with the contempt it deserves.

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Issued by ANC Gauteng Provincial Secretary
Jacob Khawe

For Enquiries
Bones Modise
Head of Communication / PEC Spokesperson
ANC Gauteng Province
082 545 5553