MLIBO QOBOSHIYANE | The ANC must do right by people to regain their trust

A lot has been said about the electoral prospects of the ANC in the next general elections, with many pundits projecting electoral support to dip below 50%.

While political opponents welcome this scenario, this must inspire all ANC members to pull up our socks by doing the right things.

This projection is based on declining electoral support from 2009 to the 2021 local government elections. We must accept that the numbers are not looking good. Our electoral decline weakens our ability to implement transformative programmes that give our people a better life.

Though we have made huge strides in transforming the lives of the previously disadvantaged, there are challenges that are hurdles to development and progress.

These include deploying incompetent people to positions of responsibility, corruption, malfeasance, goods and services provided by unethical officials and business people bankrupting the public purse.

This is not to say every deployee is incompetent, nor that every official and business are corrupt, however, the bad ones spoil the work we do for our people.

We must accept that corruption and price distortions are manifesting themselves in different forms with the objective of derailing work done by ANC structures and deployees.

Members of the ANC are the basic unit of this glorious movement that is glorious because of the work done by our forebears.

The ANC is the people’s organisation because it was established to liberate people of this country from oppression.

It is important for us to always bear this in mind so that we ensure that nothing derails the rollout of programmes and services that give our people a better life.

We must never remove the landmarks set by our ancestors because these define our identity and remind us of our responsibilities to the people.

Those members not elected to any structure equally have a responsibility to ensure that elected leaders live up to the leadership standards set by our forebears.

Those of us deployed to positions of responsibility have a duty to always do the right thing, to remove hurdles that frustrate implementation of our manifesto.

The landmarks set by our forebears, which include selflessness, commitment to clean governance and leadership, putting people first, are the guardrails that we each need to stay in the lane of servant leadership so that not just elected leaders but our people have a better life.

The ANC manifesto and constitution are clear about what we must do in fighting corruption, state capture, in improving the lives of our people, in growing our economy, eradicating poverty and ensuring safer communities.

For these tasks to be implemented, we must embrace those committed to this work, and shun those trying derail our work through counter-revolutionary tendencies. As we do this, we must remember commitments made by presidents Rolihlahla Mandela and Thabo Mbeki to create a people-centred society.

Mandela used his first state of the nation address to define this kind of society: “My government’s commitment to create a people-centred society of liberty binds us to the pursuit of the goals of freedom from want, freedom from hunger, freedom from deprivation, freedom from ignorance, freedom from suppression and freedom from fear.”

Those who betray the people’s trust must not be elected and deployed by the ANC because their counter-revolutionary and criminal conduct soils the reputation of this organisation.

As we start this year we must be mindful of the fact that there are still people without work, food, shelter, access to water, electricity, struggling to make ends meet. These people need our help.

We must take heed of Mandela’s instructive counsel when he said: “Our definition of the freedom of the individual must be instructed by the fundamental objective to restore the human dignity of each and every South African.”

We must deliver services to the people, attend to their complaints speedily, and give them the better life that they need.

As long as we have high inflation, endless load-shedding, violence, crime, poverty, joblessness and corruption, the true meaning of freedom of the individual will not be fully realised. We must do the right things for our people, now.

• Qoboshiyane is an ANC member and deputy speaker of the Eastern Cape legislature