The flames which have erupted in Tshwane over the past few days need Madiba-style leadership to extinguish.
The violence which has erupted in Tshwane over the past few days over the nomination of the ANC’s mayoral candidate calls for true leadership; statesmanship of the style shown by Nelson Mandela when he reached out in his appeal to the nation to end the violence following the assassination of Chris Hani in 1993.
“Now is the time,” he urged, for South Africans “to stand together against those who wish to destroy what Chris Hani gave his life for, to reach out, (for the police) to act with restraint.”
Now is the time in Tshwane, our capital city, for leaders not to pass the blame for the mayhem and destruction, but to stand up, stand together and ensure it stops.
Factionalism and friction in the city’s ANC region is well documented. There were those who wanted regional chairman and serving mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa to stay; there were those who favoured his deputy in the regional leadership, Mapiti Matsena, to take over.
With a stalemate, the ANC announced the candidate would be neither: instead former minister Thoko Didiza has been nominated.
But still there was unhappiness that a candidate was not selected by vote but some members felt it had been imposed on them and they refused to accept it.
Back in January, a group of women bared their buttocks in a protest at the party’s city offices, protesting about altercations at a branch meeting in Hammanskraal. Everyone was appalled.
At the weekend, a man died and others were hurt at the Showgrounds where branch leaders were meeting to discuss the candidate issue. Everyone was appalled.
In the days since, stones have been thrown, roads barricaded, cars overturned, buses and buildings set alight and shops looted.
The violence has spread to Mamelodi in the east, Atteridgeville in the west, Ga-Rankuwa in the north-west and to Hammanskraal. Everyone is appalled.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe claimed the violence was pure thuggery, and not to do with disapproval over Didiza.
Meanwhile, Ramokgopa - who has offered support for Didiza - has called for discipline and calm for the sake of the city. We strongly echo those sentiments.
But is it enough? Now is the time for the real statesmen to put differences aside, to stand up and do for us what Madiba did for the nation in 1993.
The time to paper over the cracks in not now.
From local, provincial to national leadership we urge the ANC to take responsibility and not to shift blame. This is a fire they started; they can put it out.
Pretoria News