Let’s leave our egos and address the electoral problems as dependable allies
For a while now, the Alliance relations in KwaZulu-Natal have degenerated to the abyss of political malady. Because the ANC and its alliance are not only leaders of its paid up members but of society, it stand to reason that this alliance flu is going to affect society very soon. We have a responsibility; we owe it to these time-tempered organizations that we undo our egos and unite in real terms, not through smoke and mirrors to deceive the onlookers.
It is commonly known that the nomination process for councillors in KwaZulu-Natal has not been fair and has been marred by fraud in many regions of the province. Popular candidates demanded by communities are swapped with those that are unpopular. This has sparked community protests in various settlements.
The PEC of the SACP expressed its dissatisfaction and disappointment in the manner in which the nomination process has been managed. It also expressed its serious concerns on the disregard of the views of the alliance partners and community. Disregarding community choice on who must be a candidate to represent them as a councillor constitute a total disregard of the dictates of the ANC national guidelines which must be adhered to, with no deviation.
It is unfortunate that the National List Conference has approved all the names under dispute and not wanted by the people. It is from this background that our townships in Durban are in flames, protests that are creating inconvenience to workers such as in KwaMashu.
The process of nominations has been strong-armed by factions right from regions through regional list committees (RLC’s) and this has rendered the Provincial List Committee (PLC) a farce if not a sham structure that is processing what has been violated at regional levels.
The unfortunate protests that are daily recorded in our townships especially in Durban and Pietermaritzburg against imposed candidates can only be avoided by a true leadership of the movement which is, in turn, a leadership of society. Leadership that projects itself as above the membership base and society at large, is no exemplary leadership. As the SACP we believe in the expression of the will of the people. Leadership must be a reflective mirror of the base that it leads, not a portion, but the whole base.
It is our contention that the rise of the community councillors nominated by the community against those we have selected as a movement is an off-shoot of our imposition of unpopular cadres to the people.
The most unfortunate scenario is that all these candidates raised by communities are staunch ANC members. This speaks volumes about the fairness of our processes.
It is very clear now that the tension that we see and the killings that we have witnessed are equally a product of our conduct as leaders in disregarding the peoples will. Until such time that we sober ourselves up and accept that we are facing a real political problem which is our creation, the unfortunate precedent would be created in these local government elections.
The SACP is not obsessed about who is a leader of the alliance and therefore has monopoly to take decisions. From the day the SACP emphasizes its leadership superiority over its allies would be a day it would be degenerating to infantile disorder.
We emphasize collective alliance leadership and its collective wisdom. Participation in alliance meetings in order to deal with such contentious issues should not be seen as privileged nor should we convened each other on the basis of mere formality which tend to be a “by the way” when determinations are long concluded. For us, that’s not a real commitment to the alliance.
The problem gets worse when as alliance partners we start seeing each other as nuisance to the other than a dependable ally. As SACP we are by no means a perfect ally but at least our commitment to the unity of the alliance is genuine.
Mathews Ndlovu is the Deputy provincial Secretary of the SACP KwaZulu Natal.
