The Gauteng Provincial Executive Committee convened its ordinary meeting on Saturday and Sunday, 18 – 19 October 2019. The two-day meeting took place in the month where the South African liberation movement is reflecting on the revolutionary legacy of Comrade President Oliver Reginald Tambo and Mama Albertina Sisulu’s exceptional contribution to the struggle for freedom in our country.

The PEC took time to also reflect on the contribution of other revolutionaries such as Mwalimu Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso whose legacies have transcended their respective countries to have a broader impact not only in the continent of Africa but across the world.

All these leaders are great African revolutionaries who dedicated their lives to the struggle for freedom in Africa and many lessons can be learnt from their lives of service and sacrifice for the cause of Africa’s transformation.

Ground-breaking achievements by Africans in the field sport and governance were also recognized by the PEC noting the distinguished achievement by the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize and the recent epochal achievements by Kenyan athletes - Brigid Kosgei and Eliud Kipchoge – who are the fastest marathon runners in the world.

Provincial Cabinet Change:

The PEC welcomed the implementation of the NEC decision on the 60-40 male/female representation in the Provincial Government’s Executive Council, as per the mandate given to the Premier of Gauteng in the August PEC meeting.  It also congratulated Comrade Morakane Mosupyoe, an experienced cadre of the ANC, on her new deployment and expressed absolute confidence that she will take the work of the ANC in the economy to the next level.

Comrade Morakane’s predecessor, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa was acknowledged and thanked for his sterling work in the past four months in putting together a solid plan for the growth and transformation of the Gauteng economy over the next decade. The PEC welcomed the report that Comrade Ramokgopa will soon assume new responsibilities which will allow him to continue to contribute to our country’s socio-economic development and transformation.

The PEC deliberated on a wide range of organisational issues with a view of consolidating the work of rolling out the Manifesto Implementation Plan and strengthening structures of the movement in the province in line with four cardinal pillars of Unity, Integrity, Service and Renewal.  

Ratification of Local Government Summit Resolutions

In order to strengthen the ability of local government to deliver services to communities and to prepare for the 2021 local government elections the ANC in Gauteng hosted the Local Government Summit in August 2019 which took a number of resolutions which required ratification by the PEC so that they can be implemented.

Some of the resolutions include the overhauling of the revenue management systems at municipalities and introducing campaigns to encourage the payment of services by residents; advocating for a single tier system of local government in Gauteng in the context of the City Region approach as a contribution to the current national review process on local government done by National COGTA; Mayors, MMCs and Councillors should spend 60% or more of their time engaging with communities and working with them to resolve their problems; public representative found to have interfered in the administration of the municipality should be heavily punished, which may include dismissal; the ANC should improve mechanisms of political oversight and accountability for ANC deployees.

e-Tolls Update

The PEC took note of the report of the task team charged with taking up the e-Toll issue with National Government and that various options have already been submitted on how to resolve the matter.  The position of the ANC in Gauteng still remains that the e-Tolls in the current form must be scrapped. There is no doubt that road-users in the province are overburdened as e-Tolls represent another form of taxation on the commuting road-users. 22 of the 51 toll plazas in South Africa are in Gauteng which means that 60% of toll plazas are in or within 200km radius of the province.

Establishment of Sub-Branch Coordinating Teams

The PEC resolved to establish  Sub-Branch Coordinating Teams (SBCTs) in line with the resolutions of the 13th Provincial Conference which called for the establishment such structure as per the ANC Constitution. The Sub-branch coordinating team’s primary task will amongst others be to strengthen the functioning of ANC branches, to strengthen the organisation’s ability to reach people directly, to run an effective election campaign-focused programme at voting district level and to coordinate communities from various settlement types around their issues. SBCTs are appointed (not elected) by a Branch Executive Committee where such exists or an interim structure. ANC Branches have until 30th of November 2019 to establish SBCTs.

PEC Support to Branches

To further strengthen the work of the PEC of building strong and effective ANC structures the PEC meeting adopted a programme that will ensure that Provincial Executive Committee members get to work more closely with branches. This will also allow for a better assessment of the work of the branch in the ward within which it is located. PEC members will be deployed in each branch in the province for a duration of four months starting on the 30th October 2019 to 28 February 2020.

State of the Progressive Youth Alliance

The ANC in the province has noted with concern the general state of the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) which continues to impact negatively on the mobilisation of youth structures. The weak, non-existent, disbanded or at worst divided leadership has hampered the ability of the PYA to marshal the youth of Gauteng under one common programme. This has weakened the voice of young people especially when it comes to championing issues affecting the majority of youth such as unemployment, substance abuse, access to entrepreneurial opportunities etc.  

The PEC resolved to put in place a team consisting of young activist across the movement working together with the Provincial Secretary Comrade Jacob Khawe supported by PEC members comrades Mbali Hlophe and Judith Tshabalala to make recommendations to the PEC on the revival of the PYA.  The team has been given until December 2019 to produce a report.

Regional General Council and Provincial General Council

The PEC noted that it will not be possible for the Regions and Province to hold Regional General Councils (RGCs) and the Provincial General Council (PGC) respectively in 2019 as the current process of membership verification led by the National Office under the Zivese Campain is still underway.

The latest membership audit which will enable branches to hold successful Branch General Meetings is not yet complete as such the province does not meet the required constitutional threshold of 70% required for a PGC to be held.

The PEC has therefore resolved to hold a Provincial Assembly of Cadres in November to ensure continuous engagement with structures of the ANC.

Alliance Summit

The PEC has resolved to convene an Alliance Summit before the end of this year which will amongst other issues evaluate the state of the Alliance in the province, the roll out of the National Health Insurance, e-Tolls and the state of the economy. The summit is earmarked for 16-17 November 2019. It will also develop a five year road map to strengthen relations towards the vision of growing Gauteng together.  

Disciplinary Matters

Instilling of discipline among ANC members remains one of the fundamental principles underpinning efforts of renewal within our movement. The PEC endorsed the decision of the Provincial Working Committee to suspend the membership of Comrade Nkosinathi Shabalala the former Ward 60 Councillor and Regional Executive Committee member in Ekurhuleni pending a disciplinary hearing following acts of gross misconduct. This is in line with the ANC Constitution, Rule  25 and its relevant sub sections.  

The PEC also resolved to suspend and institute disciplinary action against an ANC member Comrade Lawrence Seloane who is Ward 36 Councillor in Emfuleni in line with the ANC Constitution, Rule  25 and its relevant sub sections after he brought the organisation into disrepute following concerns about a sexually explicit video circulating on social media.

Both suspensions will remain in effect until the conclusion of disciplinary processes.  Acting councillors will be appointed in the meantime so as to  not compromise service delivery in the affected wards.

Provincial Integrity Committee Matters

Reports of the ANC Gauteng’s Provincial Integrity Committee (PIC) on investments into VBS Mutual Bank by West Rand District Municipality (WRDM) under the mayorship of Comrade Boycie Maneli and Merafong Local Municipality under the mayorship of Comrade Maphefo Mogale-Letsie and the unfortunate utterances by Comrade Faith Mazibuko directed at senior staff members while she was MEC of Sport, Arts, Recreation and Culture were tabled before the PEC.

The PEC thanked the PIC for the work done in preparation of the reports. It took time to deliberate on the reports and was unanimous in the view that Comrade Mazibuko has already taken steps to comply with the recommended punitive measures. She immediately tendered her unreserved public apology to affected officials and to the public at large and she also appeared before the Human Rights Commission.

On the investment into VBS Mutual Bank by two West Rand municipalities the PEC noted the fact that there is a process at a national level to come to the bottom of this matter and recommended that Province should engage further with the National Office so that there is uniformity and consistency in the application of principles when concluding the matter. Once that process has been concluded, a special PEC will be called to receive a report and make a final determination

Resignation of PEC Member

The PEC has accepted the resignation of Comrade Lindiwe Lasindwa from the Provincial Executive Committee. Although this was an unexpected move the PEC felt it was important to respect the decision she has taken owing to the personal reasons she advanced.  

Cde Lasindwa’s resignation from the PEC brings to three the number of vacancies in the structure. These will only be filled when the organisation holds the Provincial General Council as this is the only platform in between conferences where vacancies of directly elected positions can be filled.

Sedibeng Matter

The PEC has mandated its deployees in the Sedibeng Region assisted by Comrade Fikile Majola the convenor of the interim structure and Sphiwe Mgcina the coordinator of the interim structure to take charge of the running of the ANC Sedibeng Region until further notice.

This follows the decision of the PEC meeting of 24 August 2019 which resolved not to renew the term of the Regional Interim Committee as their mandate had lapsed according to Rule 19.9.12.2.4 of the ANC Constitution.

The PEC deployees will continue working with structures in the region to allow for the finalisation of a mediated process led by the NEC Convenor of deployees in Gauteng aimed at ensuring that organisational challenges in the Sedibeng Region are resolved out of court.

Proposal on the Africa Day of Action

Noting the NEC decision and the decision of liberation movements in the region to declare October 25 as Africa Day of Action calling for lifting sanctions against Zimbabwe the PEC adopted a programme in support of this call as follows:

•    Engagement with the South African Youth and Zimbabwean Youth
•    Engagement with the Zimbabwean Embassy to have a full appreciation of the developments in Zimbabwe on the programme
•    Picket and seek engagement with the British and US embassies on the 25th of October 2019.

Having taken note of the state of the provincial economy and the need to inject much needed stimulus into the economy the PEC resolved to have an in-depth discussion on the economy and governance at its next ordinary meeting. This meeting will also look at the work done so far by those deployed in government to give effect to the ANC Manifesto in Gauteng including spending some time discussing the state of the Progressive Youth Alliance in our province – ANCYL, YCL, SASCO and COSAS.

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Issued by ANC Gauteng Provincial Secretary
Jacob Khawe

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