ANC must urgently acknowledge its failures in government, says Radebe

ANC policy head Jeff Radebe says the ANC needs to urgently acknowledge its failures in government and pick up the pieces to improve service delivery to communities.

Speaking on the implementation of the National Development plan, Radebe told journalists at the ANC’s fifth policy conference that the party is still the only one that is best positioned to deliver critical services to South Africans.

He said medium term achievements of the NDP were proof that the strategy was working, but that government needed to accelerate the delivery plan to the poor.

“We must redouble our efforts to address these challenges, as it is only by addressing our challenges that we can improve. We have the courage to face our failures, and move quickly to ensure government transforms critical service delivery,” said Radebe.

He added: “We demonstrate that the ANC is the only party that will make the difference that our citizens demand, continue to be the leader of society through radical socio-economic transformation to eradicate poverty, inequality and unemployment.”

Radebe said ANC branches would continue to monitor service delivery and insist that its ward councilors are continually responsive to their constituencies.

He said government needed to prioritise the full implementation of the single public service and promote ethics.

With corruption being at the center of many failures of the ANC government, Radebe said integrity frameworks needed to be strengthened whistle blowers must be protected to ensure the swift response to graft in the public service.

In his opening address yesterday, president Jacob Zuma said violent service delivery protest were a clear sign of society’s dissatisfaction in the ANC for its failure to deal with concerns on the ground the lack of basic service delivery.

He urged delegates to do some critical self-introspection and come up with solutions to regain lost ground.