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Newly elected Limpopo ANC provincial secretary Soviet Lekganyane is faced with the daunting task of salvaging a party – the electoral fortunes of which have been declining – ahead of next year’s general elections.
Lekganyane was elected at the provincial conference in Polokwane, which was nearly derailed by a court application from disgruntled members two weeks ago.
Though not new to the position of party secretary in the province – having served in the same position under the then-disbanded provincial executive committee (PEC) – Lekganyane is all too aware of the dwindling popularity of the party in the province.
According to a state of the organisation report, which also served as a handover document from the previous PEC, the party’s membership declined by 19% between 2012 and 2013 and again by a further 25% between 2013 and 2015.
The opposition, most notably the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the DA, showed growth in the last elections in 2014.
The report also highlighted tension and sharpened contradictions in the tripartite alliance in recent years.
Among the issues was one when ANC national deputy secretary Jessie Duarte was booed at during a May Day rally in Polokwane last year.
Another was Cosatu’s call for the suspension of ANC secretary Nocks Seabi, after allegations he tampered with delegates’ accreditation during the national conference in Nasrec last year.
“The general feeling in the province is that the alliance is nonexistent,” the report stated.
But, speaking to City Press last week, Lekganyane pointed out that there would be no changes in the principles and founding values of the ANC in dealing with the problems in which the party found itself.
“If there’s going to be something new, I don’t think it will be at a strategic level, it may be tactical.
“The political environment does not always remain the same.
“For instance, you never anticipated that one day there would be a political party called the EFF and [that it would] go into a coalition with the DA, and you [would] lose some of the municipalities that you govern.
“But in the process of rebuilding the ANC, within ourselves as an organisation, you may have certain weaknesses, for instance, you have people who are influential doing wrong things and nobody speaks about those wrongs,” Lekganyane said.
He gave an example of a Gupta-linked aeroplane that landed at a national keypoint – an airforce base in Waterkloof, Pretoria – but the ANC national executive committee (NEC) failed to condemn the act.
Lekganyane said he remained steadfast in building capable municipalities, especially given the loss of Modimolle, Mookgophong and Thabazimbi to a coalition of the DA and EFF in the 2016 municipal elections.
Lekganyane came down hard on members of the elected leadership at government and municipal level who disrespected communities during marches.
“Sometimes you get worried when people are marching and the government is not available to receive a memorandum. They just send an employee of government. People don’t elect employees, they elect politicians,” he said.
“People have elected leadership and that leadership must be seen on the ground.
“You can’t lose a municipality and keep quiet, especially a municipality which traditionally is your stronghold. We have to go there and ask questions: Where did we go wrong?” he said.
On his campaign to get the provincial secretary position, Lekganyane did not enjoy the support of the SA Communist Party (SACP).
He was once its provincial secretary before he resigned following a bitter fallout in 2011.
He then became the provincial secretary of the ANC in the PEC that was led by former premier Cassel Mathale.
The PEC was disbanded at a time when five departments were placed under national administration.
However, Lekganyane believes the SACP was just expressing its views on his candidacy and not opposing it because the party had no voting rights at ANC conferences.
“It is not wrong for them to have views. But, at the end of the day, the decision is with the structures of the ANC to elect whomever they think will take the ANC forward.
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