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NGC will be tough on ANC leaders, warns Supra

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Supra Mahumapelo
Supra Mahumapelo

ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Supra Mahumapelo has warned those serving in government that their “loyalty” to the governing party’s resolutions on the economy will be judged at next year’s national general council (NGC).

The former chairperson of the ANC in the North West was elected chairperson of the portfolio committee on tourism last week.

In an interview with City Press, the MP said the ANC caucus must prioritise resolutions around the economy which were taken by the conference which elected President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2017.

“All the resolutions that are around the economy of this country, there must be no compromise on those particular resolutions. Why? Because we have an economic problem in the country; you are not going to resolve unemployment, poverty and inequality in the country if you don’t resolve the economy decisively.

“There are resolutions of conference which we must implement and there can’t be a compromise on those resolutions. Where there are difficulties in terms of implementation by comrades who are in government, they must always go to the ANC and say: ‘The conditions here and here do not allow us to do this, so how do we approach?’” Mahumapelo said.

The 54th conference of the ANC resolved that land must be expropriated without compensation – a matter which has been taken up by a parliamentary ad hoc committee – and that the Reserve Bank should be nationalised.

The ANCs manifesto also hinted at a review of the mandate of the central bank, calling on it to “pursue a flexible monetary policy regime, aligned with the objectives of the second phase of transition. Without sacrificing price stability, monetary policy must take into account other objectives such as employment creation and economic growth.”

Mahumapelo suggested last week that abandoning the resolutions would mean those in government would face a tough time accounting at the ANC’s mid-term review conference, the NGC.

“By the time we go to the NGC, we must assess the NEC, not on who voted who in Nasrec, but on how this collective that was elected in Nasrec has been loyal to the decisions of the NEC, the ANC conference and how they have implemented,” Mahumapelo said.

“So that we judge every leader and the collective of the NEC on implementation of the resolutions and not on where we stood at Nasrec. So that is what is going to happen in the next NGC.”

City Press has previously reported there are plans by allies of former president Jacob Zuma to use the NGC to take Ramaphosa to task for failing to implement policies of the party and to try to rally support for his removal.

Mahumapelo, who stepped down as premier of the North West last year amid violent protests which rocked the province, said that he was betrayed by ANC leaders who did not defend him.

He insisted he resigned in good faith with the understanding that the ANC would rally behind him and contradict the narrative that he had stepped down because of wrongdoing.

“I will never agree to leave a position. I have done it once and I will never leave it again,” Mahumapelo said.

“A cadre’s discipline in the movement can actually be used as the sharpest spear to destroy that particular cadre because they know that you are disciplined and you will keep quiet and abide by the decisions and persuasions in the interest of the organisation and the revolution.

“So you become an easy target. But those who are ill-disciplined, those who break every law of the ANC, the code of conduct, they get to be rewarded. They are elevated.

“It is a contradiction we will have to deal with in the ANC. Based on that, I will now approach matters differently,” he said.

Mahumapelo’s name was among those who were hauled before the ANC integrity commission for not being fit to hold public office. He said his appearance was the outcome of a campaign mounted against him by some in the ANC.

“This is what I said to the integrity commission, there are political differences with us in the organisation and people concoct things about you. And the concocted things get to be given to the media by well placed sources and then you are reported in the media. It will be unfair to say that based on things that are in the media, you must then recuse yourself from a position.

“I have said to the integrity commission, we must rather depend on the conscience and political consciousness of a member. If you know you have done wrong things, alone individually in the deepest places of your heart, you must make sure that you recuse yourself from a position.

“But if you know, like in my case, I know that there are people who are mobilising against me, who don’t want me because of political differences in the organisation, you should not.”

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