• News
  • Sport
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Education
  • TV Licences
  • Contact Us
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION
No Result
View All Result
1
Home Features 2018 ANC January 8 Statement Opinion

Will the good leaders of the ANC please stand up

15 December 2017, 3:03 PM  |
SABC SABC |  @SABCNews
ANC will hold its 54th elective conference from December 16.

ANC will hold its 54th elective conference from December 16.

Image: Reuters

ANC will hold its 54th elective conference from December 16.

I first heard of the ANC in 1952, I was doing my standard six when members of the Defiance Campaign were visiting my school. Until that time, I had not heard anyone challenge the apartheid massage that blacks where inferior to whites.

The message they preached captured me. When I got to high school, I joined the ANC youth League.

Later on in my life, I spent a year in Joburg and that one year was more than all the year I spent in politics at that stage. I had the opportunity to learn directly from leaders like Walter Sisulu, Duma Nokwe and Nelson Mandela. All the leaders where well educated, but they were not leading the lifestyle of lawyers who were amongst the most educated black South Africans at the time. They were more popular in their communities for being prepared to defend people who were arrested, even without pay.

They made a living but they did not use their ability to extract money from poor people. That impressed me a lot. This is the ANC I joined, the ANC that was founded to liberate the oppressed people of the country.  Once we got liberation, we all so relieved that at last the work we had been fighting for had happened. We assumed that everyone was ready to work for the good of the entire country.

This was a serious mistake.

Jackie Selebi was a senior official in our foreign affairs. We all assumed that he would know that he had to conduct himself like a senior policeman of the world. But we were wrong, he allowed himself to be bought by mafia criminals, he ended up being bribed with very petty things like shoes and a house. He was easy to bribe, he forgot his main mission.

We assumed that everyone understood that now that we have our freedom, we must make sure that we defend it. We failed in defending our freedom by allowing certain people who had no interest except for themselves to get into positions of leadership, positions of authority.

They took over institutions and instead of ensuring that those institutions achieve their objects, they made sure that those institutions were corrupted in order for them to make the maximum income out of those them.

It is sad that there are people who are supposed to be leaders of the ANC who have forgotten that the duty of an ANC leader is to serve people. People who think in life they must amass wealth even to the point of allowing foreigners to take wealth out of the country.

We must make clear examples of people who behave this way. They must be used to demonstrate to other people that you cannot benefit at the expense of the people.

The good leaders in the ANC must lead and get people to be prepared to expose those who are not working according to the standard of the ANC. The few who have betrayed the constitution of the country are not the majority, the majority are those who are now saying, it’s high time you come up and clear this mess.

We must have a system that will be able to remove a leader if they fail to deliver on what they were meant to deliver. We need a system of accountability. Every responsibility that you are given, you must be accountable and if you show that you are unable to carry the responsibility which you have been given, there must be a system to remove you from the job. This conference is going to deal with this issue and say it is high time we go back to our values and high time that those who betrayed the trust of our people be punished.

People are showing a readiness to support leaders who will do the right thing. The good people must come into leadership. The majority of the people will help them to get rid of the bad minority.

We have one of the best constitutions in the world let us begin to live up to the values of the constitution.

Sindiso Mfenyana is an ANC veteran and author of the book  “Walking with Giants”.

Share article
Tags: Cyril RamaphosaNkosazana Dlamini-ZumaSandile MfenyanaANC conference
Previous Post

Higher Education Minister concerned about banned students

Next Post

SACP calls on SABC workers to unite

Related Posts

Ahead of COP28 climate talks, fossil fuels increasingly under fire

22 September 2023, 10:30 AM
SANParks transport for tour.

Embracing the beauty, importance of our national parks

21 September 2023, 12:09 PM
[FILE PHOTO] Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.

National Assembly must be impeached not the Public Protector: Dr. Fikile Vilakazi-Alberts

18 September 2023, 12:53 PM

Rhino Poaching: Will it ever end?

18 September 2023, 12:32 PM

Mangosuthu Buthelezi was a man of immense political talent and contradictions

9 September 2023, 9:38 AM

Tim Knight – In Memoriam

7 September 2023, 10:01 AM
Next Post
SABC workers are demanding a ten per cent salary increase while the SABC is offering four-point-five per cent backdated to October.

SACP calls on SABC workers to unite

Most Viewed

  • 24hrs
  • Week
  • Month
  • Concern over exclusion of foreign nationals from Road Accident Fund
  • Cashless taxi service launched in Cape Town
  • Visitors planning to visit the Overberg region urged to postpone their trips
  • ANC building up in flames in Port St Johns
  • Western Cape on high alert following severe storm warning
  • High waves and rough water conditions force beach closures in the Western Cape
  • Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi to rest in the town he built and nurtured
  • NSPCA files criminal case against Julius Malema for alleged animal cruelty
  • Snow, heavy rainfall expected in parts of KZN: SAWS
  • Cold-front sweeps across SA bringing snow and chilly temperatures
  • Three dead, scores injured in Cape Town bus accident amidst severe weather
  • Significant rainfall helps dam levels in the Nelson Mandela Bay’s drought-stricken areas
  • Severe weather plunges Western Cape into chaos
  • Mbeki warns against private sector replacing government services
  • ‘Sundowns is capable of winning CAF Champions League for second time’

LATEST

Firefighters work near damaged trucks following a Russian strike.
  • World

Russia hits Ukrainian port and grain facilities in air strikes


Bullets and a crime scene tape
  • South Africa

Mpumalanga police call for help in locating ward councillor’s killer


France's Antoine Dupont runs through to score their seventh try
  • Sport

France will miss Dupont but have other leaders, says Vincent


Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a 2024 presidential election campaign event at Sportsman Boats in Summerville, South Carolina, U.S. September 25, 2023.
  • World

Trump opposes US request to limit his comments on election case


Climate change protest placards.
  • Politics

Ramaphosa urges global stage to act speedily to tackle climate change


A person holds a test tube labelled "Bird Flu" next to eggs.
  • Business

PODCAST | Consumers warned of expected poultry price hike


Weather

  • About the SABC
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Site Map

SABC © 2023

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION

© 2023

Previous Higher Education Minister concerned about banned students
Next SACP calls on SABC workers to unite