The ANC will not rush into disbanding structures or take other simplistic measures as it tries to recover from the loss of support it suffered in the May 29 National and Provincial Elections.
The party’s National Working Committee met with the party’s Gauteng regional structures over the weekend and on Monday held discussions with the Provincial Executive Committee as it takes stock what it describes as a “major setback”.
Secretary General Fikile Mbalula briefed the media on the sidelines of the meeting in Boksburg on Monday and said the assessment considered many factors and was weary of creating an environment of finger pointing.
“We know where we are going. The question is we need to ascertain, without blame game and disbandment is not the only solution in terms of what needs to happen,” he said.
Mbalula said feedback from Gauging structures pointed to unsatisfactory governance as being among factors that may have driven away voters.
“First and foremost there’s the issue of governance where people felt that the ANC did not do what it was expected to do in government. Issues of power outages, electricity infrastructure vandalism that resulted in blackouts of about five years and in some cases water shortages,” said Mbalula.
The Secretary General said party structures also gave accounts of what he called “ MK sleepers”.
“Of course there’s also the issue of the Jacob Zuma party which has come up in full force which has taken votes from us. What is coming out in those discussions with our structures is that there may be people in the ANC who were helping the Jacob Zuma party in its campaign, quote unquote sleepers, MK sleepers in the ANC,” he said.
Mbalula said the next stop for the NWC will be KwaZulu-Natal where the party lost the most support.