Cape Town - There are growing calls for the current ANC leaders in the Dullah Omar Region (DOR) to step down following the party’s inability to grow in the last decade.
Under the leadership of Xolani Sotashe and his right-hand man Vuyiso Tyhalisisu, the party lost 14 seats in the council and failed to capitalise on the DA’s shortcomings.
For a long time, the party was bashed for not being able to play an effective role in the opposition benches.
Unhappy members invaded the party’s Cape Town offices and submitted a memorandum of demands to the treasurer-general, Paul Mashatile.
“It’s been a decade of unhappiness with the current Dullah Omar leadership,” said ward 89 branch chairperson Sanele Kompela, who led the call. “I first raised issues in 2012. It’s now 2021. There are two issues here: the killing of our beloved organisation and the poor performance in the elections. We are on a continuous decline, and it will continue under the current leadership.”
For the first time, ANC lost ward 85 to the DA. This was a ward where they always enjoyed overwhelming support.
Kompela said, for the past decade, they have never had a general council, executive committees for zonal structures, and that made them go to the elections without a strategy.
“The leaders do not care. All they care about is positions and helping themselves to party funds. Sotashe is serving as regional chairperson, leader of the opposition, also serves in the executive committee of SALGA and is also chairperson of the sub-council. All these positions are for him and no one else.”
He added that the PR councillors list was manipulated so that those closest to the leaders made it to the council.
Kompela is not the only one calling for the removal of the current leaders. The ANC Youth League also joined the call.
“Between the 2011 and 2021 local government elections, the ANC has lost 30 council seats in the City of Cape Town,” said a statement from the Youth League.
“At the centre of this crisis are deeply entrenched factionalism, structural degradation, and neglect of building and servicing organisational structures in the Dullah Omar region, which resulted in the waning of organisational influence.”
They also said they are disappointed that in Cape Town, the party only has one councillor under the age of 35, a clear disregard of the party’s rules that stipulate that caucuses must be made of 25% youth representation.
In response, ANC DOR Secretary, Vuyiso Tyhalisisu said their election assessment noted that initial stringent Covid-19 gathering protocols, the uncertainty over the year in which the elections will be held, as well as the demarcation process running alongside the start of the campaign impacted the overall state of readiness for the campaign.
“Issues of disputes and ANC members de-campaigning the organisation were also more profound in our base areas. Our structures have noted the names and details of ANC members who embarked on de-campaigning the ANC during these LGE, and this information have been relayed to the provincial structure for disciplinary action.”
Weekend Argus