Former President Thabo Mbeki (Getty Images)
Former president Thabo Mbeki has called on the ANC in Gauteng to use state powers to regain the majority it lost in the May 29 general election.
Mbeki made the remarks while speaking at the ANC Gauteng renewal workshop at the Birchwood Hotel on Sunday, which was held to help the party chart its future course following its election defeat.
Mbeki said the party must ensure that it delivers what is expected of its government, whether it governs at national, provincial or city level.
The ANC in Gauteng won 34.76% of the vote in May's election, less than the 50% plus 1% needed to govern the province.
This has forced the party to work with others to form a minority government, which could lead to instability in the future as it would have to rely on votes from other parties in parliament to pass bills and budgets.
The party has also been working with ActionSA, which recently culminated in the ANC becoming Johannesburg's mayor. The ANC is also in talks with ActionSA and the Economic Freedom Fighters in Tshwane with the aim of ousting the Democratic Alliance mayor, Cyriels Brink.
Mbeki said because the ANC was in power in Gauteng and controlled most of the municipalities in the province, it should use the fact that it held national power to deliver and that it would be rewarded when voters went to the polls again.
“Let's use the power and the position that we have. The power of the state is in our hands. Let's use that power of the state to deliver these results and turn a new page,” Mbeki said.
Mbeki said it was clear there were many cases of failure to comply with the law in ANC-ruled areas and that this was what cost the party votes in May's elections.
During the two-day session, Prime Minister Mbeki said recalling local government councillors who had failed to perform their duties was a legitimate step for the government to take to address issues of credibility and lack of ability to perform their jobs.
The party needed to ensure that members deployed at these levels would strive to produce excellent service delivery outcomes.
He added that it was “clear” what needed to be done to regain the party's support in the province because the ANC's provincial leadership had already carried out a survey before the May 29 election to identify the challenges facing residents, including crime, unemployment and electricity.
“In areas where we have state power, let's use our capabilities to ensure we address precisely the issues that have been identified in our investigations. Are we confident as the ANC that we can do that?”
When announcing the 2022/23 local government audit results in August, Auditor-General of South Africa (Agsa) Tsakani Maluleke told parliament that Midvaal was the only one of the three metropolitan areas to achieve a clean audit outcome.
“Metro's overall audit results have deteriorated since the last year of the previous administration,” Maluleke said in his report.
In his closing remarks, ANC Gauteng chairperson Panyaza Lesufi said the only message he wanted to get across to President Mbeki was that “this time we will not let you down”.
Lesufi said their plan was renewal and history would apologise on their behalf if they made enemies in the process.
He said the party had left the session determined to rebuild the ANC as a more effective vehicle for improving people's lives.
“We cannot afford an election defeat like this one and it will become business as usual,” he said. “We cannot afford an election defeat like this one and we are not going to internalize the discontent that has suddenly been expressed by voters and party members.”
