Mantashe calls for ANC unity

2008-07-24 11:34

Parys - The African National Congress in the Free State should not be managed by the courts but by its structures at ground level, ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe said on Wednesday.

Mantashe told about 2 000 party delegates in Parys: "This conference will take this province from an era of being managed by the Free State division of the Supreme Court to one where the structures of the movement run the organisation."

Mantashe reiterated the ANC's earlier decision that those who disrupted, fought and took the organisation to court without using internal processes must be suspended within one month.

He said it must be done to defend the integrity of the ANC.

Mantashe said those that "drag the organisation through the mud" such as taking the party to court continuously could not claim that they loved the ANC.

Court applications

Various ANC members in the Free State have in recent months filed court applications to challenge their suspensions from the party, as well as alleged irregularities at branch and regional committee meetings in the run-up to the provincial conference.

The party successfully defended a court application to stop the provincial conference on Tuesday.

Mantashe urged ANC members to put their pride and selfish interests aside "all the time" when party interests were at stake, otherwise they could not be called "cadres".

He said the organisation had for far too long allowed it to be used as a playground for factionalism.

"We must all come out under the ANC."

Mantashe cautioned the party not to discipline members without proper reason.

"When we seek to enforce discipline, we must listen to those who want to talk to us. We must never suppress views otherwise they would whisper."

He urged ANC members to project unity and not just claim it.

"You are here irrespective of who you voted for at Polokwane," he said, adding there was no such thing as an (Thabo) Mbeki and (Jacob) Zuma camp in the ANC.

Mantashe said he was confident that the new leadership in the Free State would not be that of a faction.

- SAPA