Loyiso Sidimba
An ANC veteran has warned the governing party against the use of money and vote-buying from branch to national conferences and believes the practice threatens its survival.
The ANC in the Western Cape is due to hold its long-delayed provincial conference and it will be the first since controversial former deputy international relations and cooperation minister Marius Fransman was re-elected chairperson in 2015.
However, ANC integrity commission member and former Western Cape provincial chairperson, James Ngculu has issued a stern warning against the use of money to buy voting delegates to the conference.
Ngculu, an Umkhonto weSizwe veteran and erstwhile ANC MP, strongly believes that the disease of money has crept into the party’s election processes.
He said it was now acknowledged openly that money is used in conferences of the ANC, from branch to national level, and that money determines the outcome of leadership contests.
”Members and leaders of the ANC, at all levels, readily embrace and become susceptible to this sickness,” said Ngculu, formerly the chairperson of the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on health.
Ngculu continued: ”Using money to maintain expensive individual leadership campaigns diminishes the crucial focus on qualitative cadre-ship to rise to leadership positions. The outcome is a weakened leadership and, resultantly, a weakened ANC”.
He added that the vote-buying practice at ANC conferences presents challenges and problems.
”The practice of vote buying and bribery of delegates and comrades, in general, has substituted organisational principles and led to the decay of the ANC,” Ngculu explained.
He said the drift from the ANC’s values is caused by increased careerism, patronage, malfeasance, factionalism and a ravenous appetite for positions in the organisation and government at all levels.
According to Ngculu, this has become a massive threat to the very survival of the ANC.
”Many delegates to ANC conferences are victims of promises of jobs and deployment, which are used to promote those who would like to benefit from these,” he said.
Ngculu blamed lack of political activism and political education, which he said the ANC has neglected since 1994.
”The ANC needs to be faster and act to ensure that the organisation is led by informed, principled, ethical political leaders and members. This does not mean that there is no capacity to do what is expected.
“On the contrary, there is capacity if honesty and integrity prevail. The ANC has sufficient quality members to ensure merit and reliable criteria is used to determine leadership,” he said.
Ngculu said the use of money has led to chancers, staff riders, opportunists and people completely ill-prepared for leadership rising into various leadership positions.
”The use of money is an issue that has been with the ANC for some time. However, the ANC leadership must confront and deal with this issue immediately or face further weakening of the organisation,” he further warned.
Ngculu called on the ANC to act on it consistently on the use of money or vote buying and never allow a situation where its leaders become the property of somebody else.
He urged the ANC in the Western Cape to set up firm rules on “the perennial challenge of money and buying of membership as a route to leadership positions”.