The time for reality has arrived – it has dawned on the ruling party that it should reunite as a movement or face the consequences of the divisions within.
This transpired as your editor attended the lekgotla of the ruling party last Friday when it deliberated on a number of issues which might also have contributed to the slight decline in support at the past elections.
Much as they suffered some decrease in support according to the number of people who opted to vote for the EFF and DA, including the Bushbuckridge Residents association, they still hold the majority in the provincial legislature for the next five years.
That may have been a setback, but there is rising concern that for them to succeed in the local government elections in 2016, they have to re-visit their strategies and how they deal with one another when they differ ideologically and factionally.
What has been encouraging is that the platform was open for all members to voice their concerns. What came up was that they should learn to tolerate one another and accommodate all factions from branch level upwards so that they are able to deal with issues and find common ground instead of differing to the point that they begin to lose votes and the trust of the community.
One of their speakers also raised a vital point – that the sporadic service delivery protests by communities are instigated by their very own members and they needed to deal with that issue, which was of paramount importance to the future.
Another one even suggested that they should deal with the instigators then there would be calm in communities as there wouldn’t be anyone inciting violence and protests, but that was shot down by the collective of the movement.
What came out eventually, was that factionalism wasn’t taking them anywhere, therefore ensuring that their leaders and officials delivered on their mandate, was more important than personalising issues. It has transpired that leaders of the ruling party emerged from the lekgotla with one important goal – deliver or give way to others who can best do the job.
That’s a glimmer of hope for the electorate who are forever angry at non-delivery of services, job creation and opening up of economic opportunities for all.
Did it have to take the decrease in electoral support for it to change its tune? Did it also have to take the emergence of new parties and the increase in support of other parties, so that the ruling party changed its tune?
Any party that comes into power needs to take cognisance of the fact that the electorate are no push-overs, but can determine its destiny in the political playing field.
