WITH regard to the party infighting in the Bay, Menzi Mduma says he wishes to get facts straight and most people, including members of the ANC in the region, have got it all wrong ("Faku a legally elected ANC leader", September 19). That could be relatively true, but not absolutely true.
I am not exactly sure if Mduma has intensely and comprehensively measured what the man on the street (entire townships and suburbs in particular) daily perceives as the current impact of the infighting.
Political jargon like "employed" and "deployed" is meaningless to the man on the street who just desperately needs urgent service delivery and poverty alleviation. If and when a person is perceived by the masses to be delivering, regardless of whether that person is employed or deployed, the masses will appreciate the service delivery.
When you say people are on Nceba Faku's neck, why his neck? You further say Faku and his collectives were elected by branches of the ANC at the April 27-29 regional congress at St Albans.
The irony is that some people from those very branches that "seemingly" elected Faku and his collectives were part of the massive protest, several weeks ago, that was calling for Faku's head (excluding the neck).
A special and serious resolution to this impasse is what the man on the street urgently requires. Let us for once just refrain from articulating political semantics, ideological and institutional protocols, and focus on the key performance area and that is called service delivery.
For the sake of compassion towards the needy masses, let us put allegiances towards Faku or Zanoxolo Wayile aside and consciously think about that needy child in Missionvale, that old woman at Chris Hani squatter settlement, the little babies in Helenvale and so on.
Of concern is that this metro friction does not just entail Faku, Wayile and their supporters. Everybody is affected by this conflict.
At the centre of these two hostilities are human beings who need to be informed of what really is happening.
An urgent comprehensive and honest information intervention (not briefing), is required. That intervention should be devoid of political, ideological or preferential overtones.
In a simple layman's observation, Faku is the regional chairman of the ANC and Wayile is the mayor. Employed or deployed, the masses do not care, but they need service delivery.
In essence, the masses may have their way of looking at things and this may differ from the way today's politicians articulate things.
Mr Mduma, clarity for the masses is also needed when you say Wayile does not know the ANC when, on a national platform, he said he signed a performance appraisal with the MEC for local government and traditional affairs.
The question then arises: did the MEC acknowledge the signing of that particular performance appraisal?
If the MEC knows about that performance appraisal, then why would he not "reprehend" Wayile? If the MEC was not vocal against Wayile's signing of that appraisal, it then implies, as per your contention, that the MEC as well does not know the ANC.
Is that the case, Mr Mduma?
What is crucial is for this political bickering to stop immediately so as to start to articulate the administration of the metro according to what the man on the ground really wants
Julian Ngcangca, Hunters Retreat, Port Elizabeth
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