A rotten-to-the-core ANC has hampered service delivery with unethical leaders occupying positions of power, Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) Nelson Mandela Bay regional chair Phakamile Ximiya said on Wednesday.
This had resulted in the promise of a better life for all — the ANC’s campaign slogan for the 1994 general elections — being further delayed as corruption thrived.
Struggle veterans should, just as they had done during the fight against apartheid, fight for power to go back to people.
In an interview after the MKMVA celebrated its 59 years in a ceremony at Zwide’s Heroes’ Acre, which ANC stalwarts like former Bay mayor Ben “Oom Ben” Fihla and MKMVA regional secretary Ilva Mackay Langa also attended, Ximiya did not mince his words.
South Africans had hoped the quality of their lives would change for the better when a new democratic government was elected in 1994, he said.
“But the willingness to wait in the initial years of democracy [for a better life] has been eroded in recent years as people’s patience dissipates; as living standards drop; as corruption thrives; and as unprincipled and unethical leadership poisons the organisation and tramples on service delivery.”
Ximiya said that during Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki presidencies, people had understood that a better life for all would not happen overnight
“But with the Jacob Zuma era we saw leaders being accused of corruption while service delivery was slow and that demoralised people and they have followed that direction because now corruption is not just confined to the upper echelons of government, but is found all around our society.” Ximiya said.
With the Bay having played a critical role in the fight for freedom with activists like Fihla, Raymond Mhlaba, Govan Mbeki, and Vuyisile Mini among others being at the forefront of the fight against apartheid, Ximiya said it was time the Bay reclaimed its position in ANC national politics.
“There is no way the ANC can be strong if the metro continues to play marbles and does not give the leadership it has always shown in the SA revolution.”
However, the ANC in the Bay had for years been deeply divided which led to it losing control of the municipality in 2016.
Ximiya said Covid-19 and the lockdown regulations had worsened an already bad governance and economic situation in the metro.
“The metro has been run by unstable, directionless coalitions for the past four years, displaying no vision to draw investors who could help reduce the high unemployment rate and uplift the economy of the metro,” he said.
“Instead, business is pulling out, giving no hope in the short and medium term of an economic about-turn for the Bay,” Ximiya said.
Ximiya said the challenge of poor governance, incompetence and corruption in the metro had led to accusations of criminal involvement in its administration.
“There is filth, blocked drains, leaking sewage and water pipes and potholes particularly in the areas of the poor communities,” he said.
“Many taxi drivers disregard road rules and there is no visible crime prevention strategy.
“With Covid and the lockdowns, the administration appears to have collapsed completely.
“As the veterans of our metro, we commit ourselves to spare no energy in working towards a metro where our children can play outside, where our women can be safe inside and outside their homes and where every life matters.”
He said veterans were trying to organise more discussions with younger ANC members on what the party was all about, which was to serve people and not themselves.
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