Open letter to ANC Regional Chairperson Scara Njadayi
Dear comrade Scara. I trust trust the letter finds you in a good state of health. I write this letter specifically addressed to you as the political head of the Region because [if]anything goes wrong politically, socially and economically on deployment, corruption and mismanagement and poor service delivery in municipalities controlled by the ANC, you are the first person to be held liable and accountable.
It has come to my knowledge that your leadership is not keen on supporting the dissolution of Makana Council; rather, you prefer making some changes in the political leadership of Council.
Well, we shall wait for an official position and once published, then I will engage on this matter. For now, my leader, I am addressing this letter based on information I have received that some within the faction in that municipality are raising the name of a Councillor who is part of the failure to be made Mayor.
The name is known to me but, as you know, I’m a very fair person and I will not mention the name for now – just for now, and not because there’s anything preventing me from mentioning the name.
When this name was mentioned to me, I then went back to my files… I have to [check on]this person. My preliminary findings, my leader, show me that this person is corrupt and benefited in a municipal project by corrupt means.
I have proof of that. I am therefore advising you not even think of making such a huge mistake of considering any of the current councillors: not only the name of the councillor whose name has been brought to my attention. Preliminary results show that this Councillor is [only]one of the corrupt councillors. [None] of them are… fit to lead that municipality out of its current crisis.
You are therefore left with one or two options: first, place your reserve list with the IEC for public scrutiny for this process to be legitimate. Never try and impose anyone again there because, this time around, we will never allow that.
I know of some political nincompoops and political dwarfs who were given a chance they don’t deserve to lead that town; instead, they left a legacy of corruption and bad governance. These individuals have no interest of the people of Makana and left our people with mass poverty, mass hunger, and mass unemployment… this time around, my leader , we are not going to settle for anything inferior to [a]quality cadreship collective that is visionary with capacity to solve our problems there.
I know, they will try to manipulate you to overlook many factors and not to be objective when resolving the Makana crisis. To act in the best interest of our beloved city and its people, you are therefore called upon to demonstrate leadership: rise above petty bourgeoisie tendencies, rise above factionalist politics, be open minded, engage even those who have a contrary view, never sideline anyone and stop any malicious… influence…
Maturity
As you know, Li Shaoqi, one of the great Chinese Communist theoreticians, made this point very clear that, “Our Party Members differ in quality, social background, social influence, attitude, comprehension and understanding of the revolutionary situation and consequently, they develop in different directions in the course of revolutionary practice.”
Therefore, my leader, we know what we want there as people of that town. Because you are leader, we are giving that leadership space to lead not impose anything to us and without us. Anything you bring there, we shall look at it in terms of its quality, in terms of its social background, in terms of its political readiness and maturity, in terms of its attitudes to, wards people and citizens of our city…
We don’t want anyone who is intoxicated or a dagga smoker: only a genuine servant of the people with a proven track record in terms of qualification, education, expertise, capacity. [Someone] corruption-free… free from factions… a unifier, a leader with high moral standing, recognised and respected by religious society , civil society, different political formations and the business sector.
…We took to the streets, demanded that Kabuso be made public and that Peter be removed as the Mayor… Today… [the]Director of Infrastructure is suspended for serious corruption. Today, there are about 80 ghost workers, six years after we raised this issue in our petition in 2013.
Finally, before any decision is implemented, as you will be consulting ANC structures, you are requested to extend such engagement to civil society, ratepayers and the organised business sector who are badly affected by the current political decay, paralysis, collapse of service delivery, corruption and lack of direction. I hope you will take this letter seriously and I am looking forward to hear from you and your collective.
Yours Faithfully. Lungile Mxube, Resident and Citizen of Makhanda City
20 November 2018
Scara Njadayi replies:
I have already spoken with comrade Mxube immediately i came accross the letter directed to me in my capacity as the Regional Chairperson of the ANC in Sarah Baartman. I’ve listened to his in-depth thinking (views) and the proposals thereof on how can the situation be turned around in Makana. I appreciated that and assured him as the former Deputy Chairperson of the region that it is the political culture and an established tradition in the ANC that views from different individuals are always taken into cognisance.
