ANC STATEMENT ON THE GAUTENG RESOLUTION ON E-TOLLS

The African National Congress dismisses with contempt the accusation that President is angry towards Gauteng for the conference having resolved on e-tolls. This allegation had no factual foundation and has been peddled my people with malicious intentions. At no stage has President Zamu spoken to anyone where he would have expressed the alleged anger (see The Star report here).

The ANC is a democratic organisation that is grounded amongst our people, and its strength is that it listens to what people want. Any conference, in its deliberations, reflect the thinking and concerns of our people. In the instance of the Gauteng conference, it is evident that people are concerned on the current form and cost of e-tolls hence the direction of the discussions and the outcome.

There is nothing wrong if the conference discussed and resolved on e-tolls, it is within it's right to do so. The ANC always listens to the people and their voice cannot be ignored. It is therefore mischievous for anyone to suggest that President Zuma is angry when the conference reflects on people's concerns.

Secondly we want to dismiss the inability of President Zuma's availability to close the Gauteng's 12th conference as a snub. What determines whether a conference can proceed or not is not the availability of the President, but the number of branches that participate. We want to place on record that the President had expressed a desire to attend the conference but due to pressures of his schedule he was unable to avail himself.

Such pressures have prevented him to engage in many occasions both within the organisation and in government. The conference and leadership of Gauteng accepted the apology of President and they happy that a member representing the National Officials was deployed in his place.

The ANC discourages what the so-called sources have said as it is clearly calculated to mislead the public and generate negative response on a matter that is maliciously speculative. We are happy that two national  Officials were available to deliver the key note address and the closing statement on behalf of NEC who are senior members of the ANC Top 6, the Deputy President and the Deputy Secretary General respectively.

Statement issued by Zizi Kodwa, ANC national spokesperson, October 6 2014

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