A senior ANC leader in the North West has lashed out at those who called for the coordinator of the ANC’s interim provincial executive committee Hlomani Chauke to be banished from the province to Giyani, saying that the province had no room for tribal politics.
Robert Ngwenya (in the picture), a businessman and ANC member in Ward 5 in the Madibeng Sub Region labeled the behavior of the ANC members who protested outside the ANC North West offices as clear signs of political immaturity amongst some members.
Ngwenya’s comments comes a day after a video by ANC members calling for Chauke’s removal as ANC North West Coordinator went viral on social media, in which members had called for him to go back to Giyani, saying that he didn’t belong to North West.
“Tribalism is not retrogressive, those who promote it prove that they do not make the cut to lead any of our MDM structures let alone Government,” said Ngwenya.
The ANC leader said the ruling party has always frowned upon tribalism since from its inception in 1912 and it denounced the phenomenon at its founding conference.
“There is nothing wrong with being from a particular tribe but there is everything absurd and annoying with using tribal identity and affinities as a form of political expression and identity,” said Ngwenya in his open letter to ANC members who protested against a Chauke.
The ANC leader said young people and other members should reject the utterances that were made in the video clip by the leaders because they I shamed of promoted tribalism.
“This is nothing but utter disregard of the oath we all took when we joined the ANC, an oath we should never betray. No leader, no member of the ANC, private or public, in deeds and in speech, should be seen going against the aims and objectives of the African National Congress, some which entails curbing and fighting against tribalism.
It is extremely disturbing and disappointing to see some amongst still suffering from political adolescence and refusing to be exorcised from homeland politics 26 years into democracy,” the letter reads.
Ngwenya said the country was in need of leadership, guidance and support to defeat COVID-19, and urged members not to allow paranoid leaders members of the ANC to engage in a contest while people were dying due to Corona virus.
He said he was also concerned and disappointed that the same protest against Chauke, also contravened the lockdown regulations just because of some people’s “paranoia”.
“It is extremely irresponsible more, illegal to see the members of our movement being the ones who violate these life saving regulations just to push a narrow and myopic political agenda. These unnecessary protests and gathering our people in song to push nefarious agendas must cease with immediate effect. It’s the members of the ANC who should lead by example and the circulation clip spewing bile at one of its own is disgusting to say the least,” concluded Ngwenya.
In the video clip, the ANC members threatened to make North West ungovernable, indicating that they were not afraid to resort to the violence that led to the resignation of former Premier Supra Mahumapelo.
However, Ngwenya said there was no place for tribalism in the province and he urged all members to desist from such conduct saying that they should channel all their energies to help save the lives of people during the corona virus pandemic.
