The organisation is here and will protect Mantashe, says Mbalula

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has called on ANC members to protect Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe from the people that want to come after him when he defends the use of coal to generate power in South Africa.

‘Mixed approach’

All the ANC was calling for was a mixed approach to solving the energy crisis, not a total wipeout of coal for the benefit of renewables, Mbalula said at the Eastern Cape ANC 101 provincial celebrations at the McBright Sports Field in the Enoch Mgijima local municipality on Sunday.

Addressing thousands of ANC supporters, Mbalula said Mantashe was complaining as if he had no hope, saying there were people who were after the minister – some of whom were in the ANC, Mbalula said.

“I asked him who these people are and he must report to me so that I can attend to them fast. Mantashe must complain because he will confuse you as it will look like the ANC is not led.

“When he sees the witchcraft, he must report to the officials so that we stop the witchcraft,” he said.

ANC understands its mandate

He said the ANC understood its mandate, which was to end rolling blackouts in South Africa.

“As the ANC, we agreed that we must resolve the issue of load shedding in the country as it is the problem for all of us. We are given the responsibility to sort that out and it was never mentioned that when we are fixing the electricity problem we must abandon coal for renewables,” Mbalula said.

It had never been mentioned in the ANC that it should replace coal with solar and wind energy, Mbalula said.

“We said we must implement a balanced approach and we must implement the ANC policy, which is … putting everything in the energy mix, even nuclear,” Mbalula said. “I don’t know these people who are chasing Mqwathi [Mantashe’s clan name], saying that Mqwathi is the cause of the problems. How is he causing the problem when he does not want coal to be abandoned?”

Mantashe was the minister the ANC should protect and not leave him alone for the crocodiles to chase because he was pronouncing the policy of the ANC, Mbalula said.

‘ANC is here to protect Mantashe’

“We will explain that within the end of this week. Mantashe must not complain as if he comes from the hole and has no hope. The organisation is here and it will protect him. Our duty is to end load shedding and that is what we are doing … and that is what the people of South Africa want.

“The enemy is standing tall – complaining and protesting, some even want to come to Luthuli House to protest there. This is the first time a political party is marching [on] another political party,” he said.

It would lead a march on the ANC headquarters to protest rolling blackouts and the proposed Eskom tariff increase of 18.65%, the DA announced earlier this month.

“They will not be able to march to Luthuli House. We will deal with them. Luthuli House is not a place to march to. Eskom is not at Luthuli House … Government is run at the Union Buildings not at Luthuli House… They are provoking us by putting a finger in our eyes,” said Mbalula.

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The ANC would sing, “jikujonge ecaleni ikhona into ezakwenzeka” (“turn, look on the side something will happen”) on the day and the DA would get what it wanted.

“We are asking them not to come to our offices. We don’t have electricity there,” he said.

Employers must be qualified

Mbalula called on ANC provincial leaders to stop employing municipal managers who did not have the correct qualifications or even a matric certificate.

“That is what the enemy is using against us…

“You can’t have a councillor with no expertise and a manager who knows nothing. How will that council work?” asked Mbalula.

After its lekgotla, the ANC would ask municipalities about the skills of the people they had employed, he said.

“We will also ask the provincial executive committees to remove those who don’t qualify and put the right people into the positions. We will also … ask the priorities of the municipalities and how they are using their budgets,” he said.

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Mbalula stressed the importance of retaining the step-aside rule, saying that when some ANC members had fought it, they had lost.

“They went as far as the Constitutional Court, but they were defeated… The ANC did not send you to steal money, it sent you to work for the people.”

He called on all ANC deployees, mayors, councillors and MECs to be vigilant and attend to community issues.

“We saw disaster funds being given to the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. We want the disaster money so that we can fix the roads and bridges that were ruined by the floods,” he said.

-This article first appeared on Daily Maverick and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.