National Secretaries Political Notes

Congratulations to an overwhelming ANC and Alliance Victory

At the time of writing this edition of The Bottomline more than 70% of the votes cast since Monday showed that the ANC and the Alliance will retain a significant support from the electorate. More than 11.4 million of the voters throughout the country, representing 62% of the counted votes gave the ANC a vast margin compared to the other political parties.

This was as a result of an exciting campaign and energy from YCL cadres throughout the country, who worked side-by-side with the ANC's Election Teams. We did door-to-door, had walkabouts, posted messages on facebook and Twitter, and addressed a lot of mini-rallies and community meetings everywhere to guarantee this victory. These cadres went to areas where hope was lost, full of service delivery protests and shattered aspirations of a democratic dispensation.

However, the people of this country have disproved the media sponsored idea that the ANC will lose significantly and left tears on the eyes of the opposition. As compared to the last National General Elections of 2009, the ANC has already gained more votes and are now confidently in control of more than 2000 seats.

We have retained all the areas that I have visited and I am sure YCL cadres throughout the country will report the same. These areas include Zandspruit, Thembelihle, Zola (Gauteng), Ficksburg (FS), Leratong Park, WarrentonThere (Northern Cape) and some areas in eThekhwini and Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan.

Although we could not win Midvaal Municipality from the DA, the ANC has improved its performance in that area. It therefore came as no surprise when dedicated and committed cadres of the ANC and the Alliance were into tears when the results were announced. I however call on all of them to be calm and ensure that we concentrate our energies into ensuring that we keep the DA on their toes in delivering services throughout the entire municipality.

Build Local People's Power by Continuing with the Campaign

There are many lessons learnt throughout this campaign. Critical to any election campaign is the interaction with the people. This presents an opportunity to hear them out, to test their ideas, to understand their frustrations and to make commitments which will make them realise that democracy works.

Critical to all these lessons is the need for continued door-to-door interactions with our people post elections. We should insist that all counsellors, especially Alliance counsellors, should engage with their communities on the plans that they have to improve their lives.

There will be no other way to build people's power at local government without interaction with them through ward committees and all other structures created by the movement. Our people always indicate that we do not know them until at elections time. This comes up because the ANC government and our structures either neglects our people completely or predetermines the needs and aspirations of our people without consultation.

The urgency we attended to the toilet saga of Moqhaka; our speedy intervention in Balfour; our response to the Wessilton uprisings and the impromptu visits by President Zuma should be a consistent feature in our programmes. The SACP's Know Your Neighbourhood Campaign (KYNC) should be at the centre of co-ordinating all our structures to know their communities.

One of the principles the YCL has been lobbying for is that all ward counsellors should stay in the wards were they are elected. There has been positive reaction to this because they will better understand and feel the conditions of their communities.

Local Government should be about Fighting Corruption

In many instances, the ANC lost local government elections because of two things: houses and jobs. These are issues the central government is mostly responsible for. Of these two, there was also a strong perception that our Counsellors are corrupt and enriching themselves.

This allegation has been levelled in all the political parties. I must state categorically that any counsellor who is involved in corruption will never deliver services to the people but will forever be indebted to the kick-back providers.

The days wherein counsellors enter office and declare that it is their turn to eat instead of it being their term to serve the people should be history. Any counsellor who is corrupt should know that they are doing great disservice to our people, to the democratic dispensation and do not therefore belong to the ANC and the Alliance.

We should lobby all structures of the alliance that anyone found guilty of corruption, irrespective of who they are, should be expelled immediately from the ANC and all alliance structures. We must be seen to be doing something about the individuals involved.

Restore trust of our people in the Movement

Earlier this month the President Zuma declared that there will be an investigation to determine if some candidates were falsely removed from the list to replace others. We hope that this will be done with the speed it requires. This is important if we are to restore the trust of our people into the movement.

Build Better Communities, Deepen the NDR

This local government was dubbed by the media as a two horse race between the ANC and the DA. The reason why the ‘toilet saga', service delivery protests and jobs became the primary issue was mainly because the electorate were seen as clients determining who will better provide the direct material service to our people.

For us in the YCL it was about transforming the conditions of our people and building better communities where they live. This idea moves beyond the notion of water, electricity and houses. In fact, if elections for the National Liberation Movement are about this, we will be no different from any neo-fascist government that still provides all of these but fails to build a better country.

This was about deepening the project of a non-racist, non-sexist and democratic society. An ANC and alliance campaign should at all times be about uniting our nation and putting forward the interests of the working class and the poor first.

This approach to election campaign was more visible in the City of Cape Town were the unity of all races and the interests of the working class and the poor forth. Although it may not outrightly win us the elections, it will still empower our people to hold whichever party that rules accountable. The consciousness we imbue in the minds of our people sometimes make them vulnerable to being clients of the state instead of being agents of transformation.

When we say we send our message that we should never allow ourselves to go back to white (apartheid) rule, it should not only be about the white people in the DA, but should also be about some neo-Matanzima that may arise and want to divide our society.

The transformation of society should at all times be associated with succeeding generations within the NLM. The values of solidarity, social justice, economic and political liberation should never be succumbed on the later of an advertising machinery.

We must at all times be beholden to the principles of anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, anti-greed and our dedication to ensure that all are equal in our country even in the face of defeat. We must never allow people to enjoy certain luxuries simply because we are going to elections. The struggle, henceforth, should continue whether there are elections or not. Next time, we may not even need to campaign but will see our people flocking to the pools to reaffirm their support for the NLM.

I congratulate all the cadres who participated with commitment, dedication and voluntarily in this campaign.

Buti Manamela

National Secretary

Issued by the YCLSA, May 19 2011

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