Sir
I personally do not agree with the march on the municipality last Friday. My view is that we have serious challenges inside the ANC and we have to do a lot of soul-searching and introspection to find out what went wrong.
This march against Mr Padaychee is a total waste of time and energy. Let us go back to our structures and let us rebuild and unite the ANC if we want to remain relevant in 2019.
To organise a march against a municipal official for something which involves himself and a third party is missing the point completely.
Mr Padaychee’s case with a staff member was dealt with by a court of law. He was found not guilty. The council had more than a year or so to decide if they wanted to institute a hearing but they failed to do so.
I have a good relationship with my comrade, Lungile Mbele, the former councillor, and my best advice to her is rather than organising a march with a small group of people let us do things a little differently. Allow me to propose the following:
Firstly, let us provide leadership and go back to our structures and to the community especially Ward 3 and Ward 7 where we will humble ourselves and apologise for our own arrogance in disrespecting the will of the people. Secondly, let us accept that democracy has prevailed and that the ANC lost at the ballot box fair and square.
We need to get past this “Denial Syndrome”, this attitude of pretending as if we did nothing wrong yet we do not understand how we lost power.
Thirdly, let us as the ANC begin engagements with all other parties to find common ground on issues which create a climate that is conducive to a good and healthy working relationship. By doing this it will benefit the community at large which includes ANC members who are job seekers or entrepreneurs?
It was the gross misuse of power by the ANC-lead municipality which resulted in our downfall at the polls. The message from the voters was enough is enough. We need to get past this “Denial Syndrome”, this attitude of pretending as if we did nothing wrong yet we do not understand how we lost power.
We must show respect to the leadership of council in the same way that we, as ANC members (including myself), would have expected others to show respect to our comrades who were in leadership, or who could have been in leadership, had circumstances been different.
This is an open letter of advice to my comrades. Let us focus on rebuilding not destroying the image of the ANC. During the 2006 to 2011 period, it was a painful experience when we, as ANC, lost not one but two councillors to the IFP during the floor crossing period. Yet we swallowed our pride, we humbled ourselves as the four ANC councillors continued working with the IFP and DA.
We pooled in the management behind a collective political component. This kind of unity which we displayed was so strong and intact that we left a financially stable municipality behind us. Bickering and hiring and firing of staff willy-nilly was not heard of.
People affiliated with all political parties, and from the community at large, were free to apply and be considered for jobs provided they met the job requirements. Suspension of staff was not even heard of in those days.
Monthly, and where necessary, bi-monthly local labour forum meetings took place and all staff appointments were first agreed upon at this forum before being approved at EXCO/Council level.
The staff morale was very high and productivity and outputs were equally high because staff looked forward to coming to work, The was no fear that today it could be “my turn” to be suspended.
Relationships with the employee unions were very good and very harmonious. Council encouraged Management to work with and not against the unions. We realised from our first days that the unions are integral stakeholders. If we wanted to ensure a high productivity rate in our service delivery programmes then workers were to represent the coalface of service delivery.
Monthly, and where necessary, bi-monthly local labour forum meetings took place and all staff appointments were first agreed upon at this forum before being approved at EXCO/Council level.
There was not one single strike or protest march by the unions because the two previous Mayors, Thandeka Nukani, and after the floor crossing, Bongiwe Mbatha (Makhatini), lead the rest of the council with utmost decorum and humility.
Five years is not a long time so in order to make sure that service delivery programmes are identified ward by ward and the necessary budget allocations take place then now is the time
I say so in the context that the present ANC team in council must understand they represent the majority of voters and ratepayers. Our team inside there cannot pull away just because we have lost power. We cannot blame anybody else except ourselves. So I urge the six ANC councillors to pull together and start working with the rest of the council and the Acting Municipal Manager, and in this way, the ratepayers will get the best deal out of this municipality. Five years is not a long time so in order to make sure that service delivery programmes are identified ward by ward and the necessary budget allocations take place then now is the time. The last point which I wish to touch on is the issue of the suspended Municipal Manager, Mr Biyela. There is much talk in the community that he is sitting at home and getting paid. In all fairness to the ratepayers, yes, that is entirely correct and it should never have happened. Yet it is not his fault.
He had to use whatever legal means possible to hold on to his job. He knew then and so did I that there was much more to this than meets the eye, and my employment contract was not even renewed because I asked a few awkward questions about this matter. I want to leave this matter there because the details are sub judice I am sure that all the necessary legal steps will be taken by the present council and that this matter can be finalised soon.
Pravesh Bisram
