ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the party has declared 2023 the year of decisive action to advance the people’s interests and renew the movement.

Mbalula was addressing scores of ANC supporters at the Mpumalanga Stadium in Hammarsdale, KZN, during the party’s 111th anniversary celebration yesterday.

He said they wanted service delivery to be prioritised this year, with ‘no lazy leaders’.

“It should be seen that the ANC is in power. The fighting should stop and we must work for the people. Also important in this year of deliverance is to fix the electricity crisis, because we can see we are being lied to even though we are in power. One day load-shedding is reduced to stage 2, later it gets pushed up to stage 6. At that time we would’ve already promised people that everything will be sorted.”

He said the ANC has decided to declare Eskom a state of disaster to be able to focus on resolving the issue.

Declaring a state of disaster

President Cyril Ramaphosa said he will outline when the state of disaster will be declared this week when he delivers his State Of the Nation Address.

Mbalula said they will also be looking closely at municipal executives to ensure they were doing what they were mandated for.

He added that ending unemployment and municipalities hiring unqualified officials were two other areas the party would be focusing on.

People care about service delivery

Referring to the ANC conference at Nasrec in December, Mbalula said people did not care about what happened at conferences; they cared more about service delivery.

He said people should accept defeat and not fight among each other, but rather work for the citizens.

ANC KZN chairperson Siboniso Duma said they’ve accepted the Nasrec defeat, after Ramaphosa won against former health minister Zweli Mkhize, and will be throwing all their efforts into service delivery now.

Duma said the conference has passed and they’ve accepted that Ramaphosa is the ANC president and that the top seven will ensure the ANC’s future is bright.

“We are not sorry that KZN had its own candidate at the conference and have accepted that Zweli Mkhize is now part of the ANC leadership.”

He said they noted what was raised by Ramaphosa in Mangaung about ensuring that the energy crisis that’s undermining economic growth and investment be resolved urgently.

Duma also commented on water supply challenges in KZN districts, adding that since the beginning of this month they have been working on solutions.

He also mentioned that the party has decided to work closely with the Zulu Royal House in offering them support.

Going forward, he said, their door-to-door campaign will change this year and in the coming years as they won’t be asking residents what they wanted from the ANC.

Rather, they will be telling residents what the ANC has done and their plans to change lives.