ANC: A party at war with itself

There is now even more evidence to demonstrate that the ANC is a party at war with itself, and as a result unable to govern and deliver services effectively to South Africa's citizens.

The party's candidate selection process for the upcoming elections has been chaotic and marred by violence in several parts of the country. If the ANC cannot manage a straightforward internal process such as selecting candidates to represent communities around the country, there is little to suggest that it will be better able to manage the process of governing the municipalities it does win and ensure effictive service delivery in South Africa.

A salient example has been the storming of the ANC's provincial offices in the Western Cape by 150 of the party's members yesterday, over disagreements regarding branch candidate lists in the province. The members accused the Western Cape ANC's Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) of changing the city ward councillors' names provided by branches for the upcoming election. Indications are that these problems are widespread and acute, throughout the province. In De Aar and Langa there seems to be similar unhappiness. Related disruptions have also occurred in three other provinces: Mpumalanga, the North West and the Eastern Cape.

It is therefore highly unlikey that there is much truth to ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe's claim that: "... we went through a very democratic process which we are very happy with ...". Rather, it is clear that the ANC is not at all happy.

The people who suffer the consequences of all this internal division are of course the citizens, who expect the government to deliver basic services, but fail to recieve them because the ANC is more concerned with managing internal conflict than with governing effectively.

By contrast, the DA is focused, unified and delivering where it governs, particularly in the City of Cape Town.

The people of South Africa should be able deduce from the internal democratic systems of any political party, whether or not it is committed to transparency, excellence, and improving access to opportunity. It is this internal ethos which defines how that party will conduct itself in government. From an ANC government, South Africans now know that they can only expect continued cronyism, cadre deployment, and chaos.

Statement issued by Lindiwe Mazibuko MP, DA National Spokesperson, March 23 2011

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