African National Congress Chairperson Gwede Mantashe has warned those who intend to disrupt the party’s upcoming January 8 celebrations in Bloemfontein, in the Free State, saying they will be harshly dealt with.
Mantashe was speaking outside the ANC provincial offices in Mangaung. The ANC is expected to hold its 111th birthday celebrations at its birthplace.
Various events are expected to take place throughout the week as a build-up to the main event on Sunday.
Mantashe has emphasised that they will not tolerate any ill-discipline.
“There will be no disruptions. You see, when you misbehave you get punished, and we emphasise that people who misbehave get punished. People will know that the ANC has no time to play.”
The ANC says the Dr Petrus Molemela stadium has now been cleared for its 111-year celebrations to be addressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday.
This is despite earlier reports that the just over 15 000 seater stadium was vandalized with no running water, no operational lifts, no VIP rooms with no electrical and safety certificates.
Briefing the media on the preparedness to hold its annual January 8 celebrations at the stadium, the governing party said there was nothin sinister on the part of the municipality to raise the red flag on the safety of the stadium.
Fraught with service delivery challenges and mismanagement, the municipality was placed under administration and the inter-ministerial task team led by Cogta Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Human Settlement Minister Mamloko Kubayi and Enoch Godongwana from the finance portfolio were roped in to help resolve the crisis.
Earlier, there were also concerns that the municipal stadium meant to host the ANC birthday celebrations was not in good conditions due to lack of maintenance.
Compounding the problem of service delivery is the political infighting with ANC in the municipality with some members suspected of keenly supporting a motion of no confidence in their mayor.
However, ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula has vowed to end the political instability and chaos in that municipality.
“The troika issues, we need to attend to that. On the 4th in the afternoon, we are meeting with the IPC and we will deal with this anarchy that is there in Mangaung where ANC members are doing as they wish. That holiday is over, there will be no ANC member going forward who will work with the opposition without a mandate. That is not going to happen. The center must hold.”
And despite the safety standard of the stadium been questioned earlier, Mbalula says all has been solved insisting they couldn’t allow people to go into a stadium that is not safe.
“Our people will be there. So, I can safely report that, we can’t take our people to a place that is not safe. We have addressed all the issues that we have raised between ourselves and the municipality. So, we can safely say our destination is Dr Petrus Molemola Stadium.”
