Delivering on promise

The Big Read: Improving local leadership is key to developing the country, writes Gwede Mantashe

Feedback from various stakeholders in society is critical for monitoring and evaluation. Recent service delivery-related protests have raised question about the intention and possible reaction of the ANC and we have decided to deal with the situation in a more systematic way.

We can now make a clear distinction between genuine service delivery-related protest and that driven by internal infighting, wherein leaders of our movement want to take over as councillors immediately or position themselves for the 2011 local-government elections.

We have now visited and addressed councillors in the regions of the ANC, with a few exceptions that will be followed through soon. Evaluation forms for individual councillors have been dispatched to the provinces.

This will help us, first, to identify those who are doing good work and those who are liabilities to their communities. Second, it will help us retain experience and ensure continuity in the 2011 elections. Finally, we will reverse the reality of 67% of councillors being first-time councillors. In our view, we can make dramatic improvements.

Strikes in different industries are seasonal phenomena and should be treated as such, rather than putting them in the same basket as protests. The right to strike and belong to trade unions should not be tampered with.

When we see a crisis, I always analyse the leadership and quality thereof in that particular sector rather than buying into the conspiracy theory of strikes that will undermine [President Jacob] Zuma. It is encouraging to see the speed with which many of the disputes have been resolved. I am making this point because strong leadership is a deciding factor in any workplace. The appointments made [at government level] are also directed at improving the skills profile of every individual post. It is the individual posts that will determine the overall performance of any institution. The criticism we have received about any of the recent appointments has been overshadowed by the positive feedback we have received. Even the debate about the domination of the economic cluster by "minorities" is not a question about the competence of these comrades.

We have an obligation to take this country to higher levels of development. We cannot be in transition forever.

Our movement is pushing all the structures to be responsive. After the president's visit to Balfour, all the affected ministers have visited the area to validate the concerns raised so that they can respond appropriately.

The challenge that we are beginning to confront and talk about openly is the dangerous intersection between holding office and business interests.

We must refuse to accept that getting elected to a position of influence is a licence for personal wealth accumulation. If we don't succeed in defeating this tendency, we will continue to experience bitter fighting for election to positions in the ANC because it will create opportunities to dispense patronage and accumulate wealth on a personal level.

It is easier to deal with business people openly than to deal with people who use proxies to do business.

This is one fight that we cannot postpone.

• This is an edited version of the address by the ANC secretary general at Tshwane University of Technology on Tuesday, September 8.