For its 3rd conference the ANC veterans league meets at Birchwood hotel in Boksburg. Snuki ZikalalaPicture: Timothy Bernard / African News Agency (ANA)
ANC Veterans League convenor and presidential hopeful Snuki Zikalala has called on the party's members to be at the forefront of the revival of the mother body ahead of the looming general elections next year.
Zikalala was speaking at the opening of the Veteran League's 3rd national conference taking place this weekend in Boksburg to elect its new leaders.
Taking to the podium yesterday, Zikalala said that the league's political party was in turmoil, characterised by a significant decline in dynamism, internal problems, and strife.
He said many of the party's members had witnessed opportunistic coalitions taking place, and even worse, comrades assassinating each other for access to power and resources.
The former league president said the truth was that the league was not functioning, was marred with complaints of gatekeeping and a lack of a properly constituted business.
At provincial level, he said the party had also failed to intervene authoritatively on issues that affected the integrity and dignity of the organisation.
It was for this reason, he said, that it became important to take key decisions that would not only assist the mother body, but also be of benefit to communities in the country who had all but lost faith in the party.
In choosing the national leadership, Zikalala urged members to bear in mind geography, and ensure gender equity, balance the less and more aged and embrace a diversity of skills and experience.
"This is the criteria for the election of leadership, not who made the best place to get access to resources. People must not be elected to leadership to have access to state resources that should help serve our community and society."
Zikalala added that members were not only attending the conference to elect new leadership, but also to determine the programme of action for the leadership to implement for the next five years.
High on the agenda is the revival of the mother body ahead of the 2024 national general elections; solutions for the country's current energy crisis; service delivery and coalitions.
He stressed that going forward, the league had to take position on the universal basic income grant, the future of state-owned entities such as the Post Office, and the role of SMMEs in aiding the economy; as well as providing input on the national health insurance policy.
"Our success as a league rests on the ongoing organisational discipline of the league branches and structures underpinned by workable and solid constitution."
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