Date:08/09/2009
Source: African National Congress
Title: ANC: Mantashe: Address by the ANC secretary-general, Tshwane
University of Technology

Since the Polokwane Conference the leadership collective of the ANC has been
put under close scrutiny, with many trying hard to find faults. The first
eighteen months have been treated as the rescue phase during which the ANC
had to rescue itself from elite control, infighting and polarization.

During this period we saw a breakaway of dissidents to form a splinter
party. The 2009 elections closed this ugly chapter by re-affirming the ANC
as the peoples' party, returning it to power with 65. 9% majority.

We contested these elections on the basis of five priority areas:

· Economic growth and creation of more jobs, decent work and sustainable
livelihood.
· Education with particular focus on quality and the schooling system.
· Universal access to quality health care, with National Health Insurance
being tool.
· Land reform and rural development.
· Fighting crime and corruption.

We have committed ourselves that the current administration will be
emphasizing the centrality of performance. These are not promises but
commitments made by the ANC to the electorate.

When the cabinet was restructured and appointments made the commitment made
were the main consideration. We created departments that would focus on
rural development and basic education. The debate about the National Health
Insurance Scheme is raging on and is healthy.

We encourage and enjoy the public participation in the generation of ideas
and shaping of policy. The establishment of the Planning Commission headed
by a minister and minister responsible for Monitoring and Evaluation
captures our commitment to performance of our government.

We cannot wait for the opposition and the media to criticise us before we
notice non-performance. Feedback from various stakeholders in society is
critical for monitoring and evaluation. The recent service delivery related
protests having raised question about the intentions and the possible
reaction of the ANC. We have decided to deal with the situation in a more
systematic way.

We can now make a clear distinction between genuine service delivery related
protests and those driven by internal infighting, wherein leaders of our
movement want to take over as councilors immediately or positioning
themselves for the 2011 local government elections.

We have now visited and addressed councilors in the regions of the ANC, with
few exceptions that will be followed through soon. The evaluation forms for
individual councilors have been dispatched to the provinces today.

This will help us firstly, identify those that are doing good work and those
are basically liabilities to their communities. Secondly, we will be able to
retain experience and ensure continuity in the 2011 elections. Lastly, we
will reverse the reality of 67% of councilors being first time councilors.
In our view we can improve dramatically.

The strikes in different industries are seasonal phenomenon and should be
treated as such rather than pulling them together with the protests. The
right to strike and belong to trade unions should not be tempered with.

When we see a crisis in a sector I always analyse the leadership and quality
thereof in that particular sector rather than buying into the conspiracy
theory of strikes that will undermine Zuma. It is encouraging to see the
speed with which many of the disputes have been resolved. I am making this
point because strong leadership is a deciding factor in any workplace.

The appointments made are also directed at improving the skills profile of
every individual post. It is the individual posts that will determine the
overall performance of any institution. The criticism we have received for
any of the recent appointments has been overshadowed by the positive
feedback we have received. Even the debate about domination of the economic
cluster by the "minorities" is not questioning the competence of these
comrades.

It is the different point made that must be engaged until we all accept that
we have the responsibility of building an inclusive and a winning nation. We
have an obligation of taking this country to higher levels of development,
as we cannot be in the transition forever.

Our movement is pushing all the structures to be responsive. After the
President's visit to Balfour all the affected Ministers have visited the
area to validate all the concerns raised so that they can respond
appropriately.

The challenge that we are beginning to confront and talk about it openly is
the dangerous intersection between holding office and business interests. At
this point in time it causes a lot of unhappiness as if we are attacking
individuals. As we begin to raise it consistently we will succeed in
ensuring that people make clear choices.

We must refuse to accept that getting elected to a position of influence is
a licence for personal wealth accumulation. If we don't succeed in fighting
and defeating this tendency we will continue to see bitter fighting for
election to positions in the ANC because it will create opportunities to
dispense patronage and accumulate wealth at a personal level.

It is easier to deal with business people openly than to deal with people
who use proxies to do business. This is one fight that we cannot postpone.

Let me conclude by inviting all of you to join us in building a united,
non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. Remember
that working together we can do more.

Thank you.