ANC co-convenor in Gauteng Panyaza Lesufi warns against factionalism, stressing the ANC must serve like a responsible provider,delivering real change to all citizens while tackling infrastructure decay and governance failures in Gauteng.
Image: Timothy Bernard/Independent Media
ANC Gauteng provincial co-convenor Panyaza Lesufi has pledged a renewed commitment to rebuilding the party, rooting out factionalism, and addressing governance failures in the province.
Speaking at a media briefing following the conclusion of the ANC Gauteng two-day Lekgotla, Lesufi outlined a strategic plan to regain public trust and electoral strength ahead of upcoming regional conferences and elections.
The Lekgotla focused on mapping the party’s roadmap for renewal. Lesufi said a comprehensive “master plan” had been adopted, based on resolutions from the recent national Lekgotla, to align both governance and organisational efforts in the province.
“When we refer to our master plan, we’re essentially talking about our programme of action at both governance and organisational levels,” Lesufi said.
He stressed the importance of unity among alliance partners and increased youth participation, describing the Lekgotla’s resolutions as “amazing” and well-positioned to tackle the province’s key challenges.
Acknowledging internal polling that showed widespread dissatisfaction across employment groups, Lesufi said: “Those without jobs say they can’t vote for us because they’re unemployed. But even those with jobs say they can’t vote for us,” he said, calling it a “moving target.”
Comparing the ANC’s current role to that of a service provider, he said: “We are like a service provider, like Vodacom. We must understand that we are rendering a service to all sectors of society.”
Addressing concerns around deteriorating infrastructure and municipal service delivery, Lesufi introduced the concept of “G13 plus one,” referring to the province’s 13 municipalities plus the provincial government: “We’ve identified the G13 plus one problems as core issues affecting service delivery and governance. We fully accept them,” he said.
He attributed much of the decline to ageing infrastructure and rapid urbanisation.
“We are a generation dealing with infrastructure that wasn’t built for our current population ,we’re now three times what we used to be,” he explained, calling for stronger intergovernmental coordination to reverse the decline," he said.
Lesufi added that the ANC’s provincial task team is working closely with the Presidential Task Team (PTT) to implement solutions: “We must address these challenges not because we’re hosting G20, but because this is part of our economic turnaround plan.”
On the upcoming regional conferences, Lesufi was clear on the party’s stance against factionalism: “They must not be used to divide the ANC or promote factionalism. The issues of membership buying and using money to influence outcomes , that is a hot line,” he warned.
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