Deon de Lange
13 January 2008
ANC leader Jacob Zuma has threatened "very serious action" if members of President Thabo Mbeki's government undermine the ANC, or ANC leaders show disrespect for the government.
Zuma was speaking on Saturday at a rally in Atteridgeville to mark the ANC's 96th anniversary.
Zuma also said the party would "act resolutely" against gossipers within it.
"I have said in the past to the [ANC's national executive committee] that people must not gossip, and plan and mislead, and think that this gossip does not come to the [notice of the] movement.
"We will act to bring about control in the ANC. We must not be surprised if we take harsher actions against those whose activities undermine the ANC. If this continues, you will have to remove me as president of the ANC."
He was delivering his first policy speech since his election to the presidency of the ANC.
He gave the government an ultimatum to implement the resolutions adopted at the ANC's recent national conference in Polokwane.
Zuma said there should be "no apprehension about the relations between the ANC and its government" that could hinder the implementation of the party's policies.
"We are aware of the responsibility to ensure smooth working relations and we cannot fail the nation in this regard," he said.
Zuma said he would continue to draw on Mbeki's "expertise" while at the same time nudging his predecessor's government to accelerate service delivery.
Zuma's new party leadership is conscious of the growing impatience of ANC members who rejected Mbeki and most of his cabinet at the Polokwane conference.
He called on members of the party to heal the divisions caused by the recent leadership contest, conceding that "the past few months and years have placed the unity of the ANC under great strain.
"The ANC belongs to all its members equally. We want to emphasise that membership or leadership of the ANC must never be used to marginalise or exclude others.
"The ANC has always found ways, even in the face of the most daunting of circumstances, to embrace diversity and manage differences," he said.
Mbeki has frequently been accused of marginalising his opponents and stifling debate within the party.
Zuma warned against deviant practices in the party.
"We have in recent times witnessed behaviour and heard statements that are at odds with the culture and traditions of our movement, and some that sought to subvert the democratic traditions of our movement.
"We have also withstood pressure from many quarters who have sought the fragmentation of our movement," he said.
He reaffirmed that there was a need to unite the fractious alliance, whose internal hostilities are said to have intensified under Mbeki's leadership.
"We need to close the chapter of tension and mistrust," Zuma said.
He spoke out strongly against "African dictatorships" but stopped short of discussing Zimbabwe.
"We remain steadfast in our opposition to interference with the democratic right of people to elect a government of their choice, to vote rigging, or to any dishonest means of attaining power.
"As Africans, we must continue to work in 2008 to eradicate such practices from our continent," he said.
He expressed "our deep concern at the situation in Kenya".
Though Zuma indirectly trumpeted Mbeki's macroeconomic successes - including GDP growth and the reduction of extreme poverty - his speech was significantly influenced by the communists and unionists who put him in power.
His use of key phrases such as "decent work opportunities", "casualisation of labour" and "the widening income gap between the poor and the rich" reflects the vocabulary of the left.
Key development indicators published by the government last year show that poverty has been reduced since the ANC-led government was elected, especially after 2000. But "the rate of income increase for the poor has not matched that of the better off, and income inequality has increased," Zuma said.
Zuma gave no indication of a drastic deviation from current government programmes but his new leadership is determined to ensure that Polokwane conference resolutions are translated into government policy, though senior ANC officials have admitted that financial constraints might delay their implementation.
Conference resolutions with immediate financial implications include "free and compulsary education for the poor until undergraduate level", getting 60 percent of all schools to drop fees and disbanding the Scorpions by June.
Zuma said little about HIV and Aids, other than emphasising the importance of voluntary testing and the provision of anti-retroviral drugs.
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