Nono Maloyi was elected African National Congress (ANC) North West chairperson at the party’s provincial elective conference, in Rustenburg, over the weekend.

Maloyi’s deputy will be Lazarus Kagiso Mokgosi, with Louis Diremelo elected as the new provincial secretary. Viola Motsumi will be the deputy secretary while the new treasurer will by Sello Lehari.

Maloyi, a former MEC, said that the state of ANC branches wa politically challenged and that intervention in rebuilding the branches depended on the manner in which members were recruited.

The ANC adopted a new membership system and, according to Maloyi, it was a matter that still needed to be unpacked. He said the organisation would need a strong political sub-committee to ensure that incoming members were inducted properly.

“That political programme must be on-going in order for all members of the ANC to know how they should conduct themselves, how they should behave and to understand what a branch of the organisation does and the issues they need to focus on. After completing the conference, a programme will be further adopted to guide all branches in the province as to what needs to be done in the next four years,” Maloyi said.

Some members have challenged the results of the conference and regard the process of the conference as illegitimate. Maloyi denied the claims, however, saying that the conference had adopted the credentials and the programme.

“We should have received a court application to state that indeed the conference is illegitimate so that we can respond properly,” he argued.

He further acknowledged the serious challenges in the ANC, adding that it would take unity to defeat such challenges.

Noting infighting in the organisation, disrupted council meetings and motions of no-confidence, Maloyi said these issues needed interventions to show political stability.

All 23 municipalities in the province are run by the ANC and according to the Auditor General’s report they did not perform well. Maloyi said underperformance at a local government level was mostly caused by politics and maladministration.

Maloyi also stated that people currently deployed in administrative roles were not ready to take the province forward.

“We must talk to our Councillors to employ people who have the necessary academic qualifications and those who understand that the ANC is in charge and, therefore, what needs to be implemented at that level is policies and the manifesto of the organisation. Once we stabilise that, it will be easy to do what is expected of us to provide quality service delivery to our people,” Maloyi said.