Madam – The legal grip on leadership.
I refer to an article on the cover page of the Newcastle Advertiser published on 05 August 2016 under the heading ‘’the legal grip on leadership’’.
Former President of the ANC and the Republic, His Excellency Thabo Mbeki, addressing the people of South Africa in the aftermath of the African National Congress’s election victory in the year 1999 general elections said “the people have spoken – die mense het gespreek, the people have said unequivocally: the ANC leads”.
This he said as an opening statement to his victory speech. In my view, to underpin the notion that “no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people”, which is espoused in the preamble section of the Freedom Charter.
As the Independent Electoral Commission and other Observer Missions, domestic and beyond; declared the 2016 Local Government elections free and fair, and therefore its outcomes credible; the words of the former President rang true.
The electioneering processes itself and its outcome, notwithstanding the deplorable loss of lives, especially here in KZN. Has in my view, considerably accentuated, and given further impetus to this notion; which I view, as the very essence of the doctrine of democracy, embedded in the Freedom Charter and our constitution.
The 2016 local government elections, thrusted and hoisted the quandary of the proletariat, right through to the highest strata of political power.
Political parties across the divide seem to have embraced a relatively new, but welcomed phenomenon, of unveiling their Mayoral candidates who would lead in various Municipalities, should their election declarations strike the right strings and resonate with the electorate.
Therefore the candidature of soon to be His Worship the Mayor of Newcastle, Cllr ME. Nkosi comes in that context. Without sounding sycophantic; I do think that the entrance of a person of his stature in the local government politics, especially in the capacity of City Mayor, is a welcomed development.
It also underlines the seriousness with which the ANC views Local Government, and the respect it has for the people of Newcastle; who in their majority, renewed its mandate and voted it into power yet again. As for Cllr Nkosi the jury is out, but he certainly has his work cut out.
Since the KZN Province, still has the Executive Committee system, wherein once Municipal Councils are inaugurated and the Speaker of Council elected; the Municipal Council must elect the Executive Committee, from amongst the members of the Municipal Council, and from the members elected to the Executive Committee, elect the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor.
Unlike in other Provinces which use Executive Mayoral system; wherein Municipal Council’s only elect the Speaker and the Executive Mayor, the Executive Mayor has the discretion and prerogative to appoint from amongst members of the Municipal Council, a Mayoral Committee, and members who are appointed in such a committee are called Members of the Mayoral Committees (MMC’s), this is something which one could approximate to the Municipal Cabinet.
Having had a privilege to serve in the local government for over a decade, one can point out that, in the majority of cases, Municipal Councils are not without conflict of interest.
The biggest challenge for Nkosi in my humble opinion, would be to work towards forging a sense of unity from amongst Council Members, based on well-defined set of pre-determined objectives, keeping the main thing the main; as together with the Speaker and Chief Whip, rally the ANC Caucus to work towards delivering on the ANC election menu, promised to the people of Newcastle.
However, as a starting point, I would reflect on what I consider to be the apex blue print of the ANC, which in my view is a precursor to the National Development Plan (NDP), from which flows many policies and programmes. The Strategy and Tactics Document, adopted at the ANC’s 52 Conference in Polokwane in 2007.
In the section dealing with what it calls the “Vision of our Collective Effort”. The Strategy and Tactics Document asserts a view that the society we seek to create should amongst other things:
– Have a democratic and legitimate state based on the values of our Constitution
– Promote unity in diversity among South Africans, recognizing the common interests that bind them as a nation
– Ensure a growing economy which benefits all, including through the creation of decent jobs
– Be informed by a value system of mutual respect and human solidarity
– Be led by a state that is efficient in providing services and which gives leadership to the programme of national development.
It is pertinently important to remind ourselves of what was promised by the ANC, as we reflect and rehearse the ANC’s 2016 election menu: The ANC said – Together with communities, the ANC will:
Build on achievements made in delivering basic services to the people. Improve access to municipal services and reduce outsourcing in municipalities.
Further improve public participation and accountability of councillors. Enhance the capacity of the local state to deliver on its mandate.
Develop and strengthen local economies, create jobs and promote job placements, especially for the youth. Intensify the fight against fraud and corruption in local government and social fabric crimes in communities.
Promote education as the apex priority in all communities Improve health in urban and rural communities. Help municipalities adapt to the changing climatic conditions.
Build spatially integrated communities. Promote nationbuilding and socially cohesive communities
There is no gainsaying the fact that, achieving these commitments would not be an easy task. The incoming leadership collective, charged and entrusted with the responsibility to deliver on these commitments, will have to stretch every sinew of its brain, jointly and severally.
They need to use the political power at their disposal effectively, to better the life of the proletariat from the anguishes of poverty and pauperism. Use power to serve and be of service to others, rather than for purposes of self-aggrandizement, and a relentless pursuit for opulence and mammon.
This if not guarded against, results in a situation where the political elite, use their hold on power and state institutions, such as municipalities, as a dispensary counter for patronage.
Joel Netshitenzhe calls this the “use of the state as a class instrument to pursue and defend class rule and class interests”. The Gauteng Provincial Executive Committee of the ANC invited Joel Netshitenzhe to make a presentation under a theme ‘state power and the revolution in our time’.
He made an important observation as he shared a story told to him by a friend, who complained that especially, unscrupulous business-people are harassing him. ‘Why do you think we mobilised for your appointment during the elections’, they ask. ‘It is now time to deliver’.
This is what they mean when they extend their hand and ask, en nou! But then Joel concludes by saying, if we will all agree that if state power is to promote the objectives of the National Democratic Revolution as articulated in the Strategy and Tactics Document of the ANC, the response of a cadre of the movement to the question, en nou would have to be: ‘n better lewe vir almal’ (a better life for all)! We must all work towards the realization of a better life for all and not for some.
In the final analysis, the electorate ought to measure, and will indeed measure, the extent to which the Municipality under the collective leadership deployed by the ANC, in which Nkosi will be at the forefront, would have been able to bring us closer or widened the gulf between where we are and where we ought to be, in terms of the realization of a better life for all, advancing people’s power in every community, and indeed the noble goals set out in the Strategy and Tactics documents.
Mqondisi Dladla
