PRETORIA, August 14 – The African National Congress national executive committee (NEC) is collectively taking responsibility for the party’s poor performance in the August 3 local government elections, secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Sunday evening.
“In particular, the NEC analysed the ANC’s overall performance and appreciated the winning of wards in many municipalities. We were nevertheless disappointed at the loss of a number of key municipalities and failing to retain our majority in the metropolitan municipalities of Tshwane, Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela Bay, [and] Ekurhuleni, and other municipalities,†Mantashe told reporters at the conclusion of a four-day NEC meeting in Pretoria.
“The NEC unanimously agreed to take collective responsibility for the poor performance of the ANC during the elections and resolved to take immediate and bold actions to address the weaknesses and shortcomings that led to the decline of our electoral support.â€
Mantashe said the poor showing at the polls was interpreted by the NEC “as a clarion call of the people to the liberation movement to urgently take steps to speed up the programmes of change, and rectify the many subjective weaknesses affecting its capacity to play its historic roleâ€.
He said turning around the fortunes of the governing party required serious, objective, and robust introspection within the ANC, starting with the leadership at all levels.
“The NEC believes that arresting the electoral decline would require the ANC to immediately and courageously embark on bold strategies to re-energise our structures and supporters. This will require us to deal with perceptions of the ANC being arrogant, self serving, soft on corruption, and increasily distant from its social base,†said Mantashe.
The ANC is currently in high level negotiations with opposition parties for coalitions in significant metros such as Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, and Johannesburg after losing grip in the August 3 polls, falling below 50 percent.
The governing party also lost out in the tightly-contested Nelson Mandela Bay metro, scoring less than the opposition Democratic Alliance.
– African News Agency (ANA)
