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ANC divided over matric for mayors
Former MEC Dan Farisani was kicked out of a meeting where he planned to convince the party and the media about the importance of having qualifications as a leader and as a mayor.
General views of the African National Congress (ANC) headquarters Luthuli House in Johannesburg, 9 December 2020. Picture: Michel Bega
A controversial plea by the ANC to demand post-matric qualifications for any candidate to be appointed as a mayor has caused ructions within the party and it’s branches in Limpopo.
On Wednesday ANC politician and former MEC Dan Farisani was kicked out of a meeting where he planned to convince the party and the media about the importance of having qualifications as a leader and as a mayor.
“I was booed, spat on and insulted by young boys because they refused to be told about education,” the 74-year-old father of four said on Thursday.
“They ended up chasing me away from the venue… I was never humiliated like that before in my entire life. But I forgive them because I am sure they did not know what they were doing.”
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Farisani, together with other ANC bigwigs – mainly from the Vhembe region of Limpopo – had gone to a hotel outside Polokwane where they had called a press briefing.
The meeting comes after a dark cloud arose following the ANC’s call to all members to have the necessary skills, track record and qualifications to become a mayor.
The party had allegedly called on any candidate on the list to produce proof of post-matric qualifications for deployment at the level of a mayor.
This did not sit well in some party quarters. Now, the province is divided down the middle, with some members saying the demand was not only divisive, but factional.
In a video clip that went viral on social media on Wednesday, a group of youth is seen escorting Farisani and his political camarillas out of the hotel.
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“We heard about them and we will not accept any nonsensical behaviour that seeks to divide the ANC in the province,” said an ANC Youth League member.
“This thing of qualifications is an ANC ploy, concocted by our political foes with the sole aim of dealing and depriving some of our leaders from being mayors.”
ANC provincial spokesperson Donald Selamolela confirmed that a tertiary qualification was one of the many vital tools needed for one to qualify as a mayor.
– news@citizen.co.za
