The party’s provincial chairman, John Block, told the 540 ANC delegates who gathered at the Mayibuye Centre in Kimberley during the party’s provincial list conference, that God would shorten the days of those who did not respect the organisation and even turned against it.
“I was in church on Sunday and one of the things that I read was ‘honour your mother and your father so that your days (on earth) may be lengthened’. The ANC is like your mother and father, if you do not respect the organisation that brought you up, your days will not be lengthened. And if you do have longer days, they will be painfully long,” Block said.
The conference started with an interfaith prayer, where several religious leaders prayed for the members of the ANC and for the party to withstand “all weapons formed against it”.
After the prayers, speaker after speaker told party members that God had blessed the ANC to win the 2014 general elections.
“God is with the ANC and that is why we will win the 2014 general elections. As the religious leaders have pointed out, we will not fear any weapons formed against us ahead of the 2014 general elections because God is with us. We will crush anyone who contests us at these elections,” the party’s national executive committee member, Mcebisi Skwatsha, said.
A member of the party’s national list committee, which oversaw the election processes of on Monday’s conference, Sindiso Mfenyana, also told delegates that the ANC had its own God that protected it from those who attacked it.
“In a discussion I once had with OR Tambo (former ANC president), he was convinced that the ANC had its own God. That is why when you attack the party, it is you who will be destroyed. It is our responsibility to look after the children of God. This is why the people you vote for at this conference should be people who understand what should be done,” Mfenyana said.
Block also referred to ill-discipline within the organisation, which he said should be stamped out.
“There is (an emergence of) a new party called ID – ill discipline. There are ANC members who wear the party regalia but do all things that an ANC member would not do. We take decisions together but some of us then go the other way. It does not help to leak information to the media in the hope of putting pressure on the organisation. We must deal with ill-discipline within the organisation,” he said.
He also said that the perception that ANC members from Frances Baard region were being sidelined from key positions within the organisation was not true.
“How can we undermine and isolate Frances Baard region when this is the biggest region in the Province? The ANC is not a regional organisation and candidates will not be elected (to represent the ANC in government) on the basis of their region or the language they speak,” Block said.
On Sunday, reports emerged that separate lists that apparently sidelined Frances Baard regional leaders were going to be used at the conference.
On Monday, party officials who did not want to be named, challenged Block, saying that his utterances were contrary to what was happening at the conference.
“In public he (Block) may want to dispel this anti-Frances Baard region campaign but in practice it is happening. Our region has been sidelined and we are bitter about this. Our enemies may have won this round but we will regroup and launch a comeback,” the officials said.
Block also urged voting delegates to not elect candidates who were not doing their constituency work and who were not dedicated to the ANC.
“Candidates who have not been doing their work are now panicking because they fear that you will not vote for them. Some of these candidates earlier raised two hands when they were greeting you so that you could remember them. I urge you not to vote for lazy people. But what is important is that branches will decide on who to vote for because you know your leaders,” he said.
Earlier, Block received a standing ovation from party members when he called on them to get married.
“We come from a wedding of the MEC for Education, Grizelda Cjiekella, and I encourage all party members to get married. We have beautiful women and men in the ANC and I encourage you to get married. It cannot be that you are not married and you want to tell people who are married what to do. If you don’t get married, there is something wrong with you,” Block added.
Before he delivered his speech, he was welcomed with a song and dance by party members.
