The Heat is on at the Region.

Previously we reported that there was a planned Ordinary Congress to consider and adopt the annual reports of 2017, which members, including PLFA, requested that it be moved in favour of the Extra Ordinary Congress to deal with the anomalies. We reported that some of the anomalies were:

• the reporting periods used for the annual reports over the past years, which was in contradiction with the Constitution;
• the convening of the Ordinary Congress over the past years, and even in 2018, during the incorrect periods; and
• the need to re-calibrate the elective year since there was no Congress in 2014, which was supposed to be the year of the elective Congress, and instead elections were held in 2015.

We also reported that the Region acceded to the request for the moving of the Ordinary Congress to make way for the Extra Ordinary Congress. However, in convening the Extra Ordinary Congress, the region deliberately left out the the concerns of the members on the Agenda, using a technicality that they received less than one third of the letters from the members in order to inform the agenda. This conduct on the part of the Region led to the collapse of the convened Extra-Ordinary Congress on the 8th of September. The rationale from the members is that, the Region cannot accede to the call to postpone the Ordinary Congress from less than one third of the letters, and then not take their concerns into consideration. If the threshold of one one third was not met, then why did they accede to the request of postponing the Ordinary Congress? Better yet, why did they accede to the request of holding the Extra-Ordinary Congress?

We reported that there was, or perhaps still is a narrative that Soshanguve was responsible for the collapse of the Extra Ordinary Congress of the 8th of September 2018. This is because Soshanguve’s letter for the request of the Extra-Ordinary Congress was not received by the Executive Committee as it was sent to the REO’s personal email address. This letter would make the members who requested the Extra Ordinary Congress reach the required one third. Because the Region was hinging on the use of the ‘one third’ technicality in refusing to discuss the concerns of the members whose letters were received, the meeting collapsed, and thus the Region blames Soshanguve on the collapse. On the collapse of the Congress, the Region undertook to reconvene it soonest.

We reported that members got uneasy when the Extra Ordinary Congress was not being convened ‘soonest’ as promised, and started writing letters again to the Region to put pressure. PLFA was at the forefront of this protest. In facilitating the protest, PLFA requested to Region to allow members to get together and discuss the way forward since the Region was being unresponsive. This request is provisioned for in the Constitution. The Region replied with no hesitation rejecting the request and condemning PLFA for even making such a request. PLFA escalated the matter to SAFA National, which the Region took offense. The Region summoned PLFA to appear before the REC. The rumour mill has it that the intention was to have PLFA suspended and reduce the noise.

We reported that PLFA appeared before Regional Executive Committee to answer about its perceived behavior. In that meeting, PLFA put out the shortcomings of the Region, mainly those that cause members to loose confidence in the leadership of the region, so that the Region can see what caused the pressure that the members exert. Chief among the Region’s flaws is the breach of the Constitution. Examples were tabled, to which the region made a revelation that there was a mistake in adopting the Constitution in 2015, where the Office applied the agreed changes but did not circulate it to the members. This was thus reported as the major source of confusion within the Region, to which the Regional Executive Committee said it would write an official letter to the members and apologise for this. The Region also resolved to warn PLFA on its escalations whilst (the Region believes that) the internal processes were not fully exhausted.

We reported that the letter of apology from the Region as stated here-above was not received by the members, including PLFA. However, the Extra Ordinary Congress was reconvened for the 17th of November 2018. In the reconvened Extra Ordinary Congress, the Region did include an Agenda item to discuss the concerns of the members. To make sure that its concerns are part of the Agenda, PLFA resubmitted its concerns to the Office to include on the Agenda. In addition, PLFA also included a recommendation of members to be appointed to the Electoral Committee. PLFA also made a comprehensive submission for the changes on the draft Constitution.

We must report also that prior to the Extra Ordinary Congress, the Region summoned Soshanguve to appear before the Regional Executive Committee. Again, like on the matter of PLFA, the rumour mill has it that the intention was to suspend Soshanguve for the collapse of the Extra Ordinary Congress of the 8th of September 2018, in order to reduce the noise and the dissenting votes. This meeting too collapsed on technicalities as a result of the omissions on the part of the Region.

The reconvened Extra Ordinary Congress took place on the 17th of November 2018 as planned. When discussing the concerns of the members, it emerged that there was an apology mentioned here-above that was not sent to members. Ironically, such an apology was found on the packages given to the members at the Congress. This was seen as an act of dishonesty on the part of the Region, where it ambushes information to the members instead of having them circulated as per the norm, so that at a later stage they can claim that the letters were received by the members. This was seen by members, including PLFA, as a deliberate move by the region to disable the members from making informed decisions about its incompetence prior to the Extra Ordinary Congress.

Correctly so, based on the above, and that the Regional Executive Committee governs in contrast with the Constitution without any consequences, and also based on the fact that the Regional Executive Committee cannot meet ordinarily as required by the Constitution, thus always relying on reconvened Regional Executive Committee meetings since these do not require a quorum, and also based on the fact that the leadership has not done anything to correct this situation for more than a year, Hammanskraal raised a motion of no confidence on the Regional Executive Committee, a motion of which was supported by most members. However, because that motion was not part of the Agenda of the day, it was agreed that such a motion will be considered in a meeting convened specifically for it. Such meeting was then agreed to be convened in two weeks.

The two weeks mentioned here-above was in actual fact to be the 1st of December 2018, but with tolerance, the latest will be the 8th of December 2018. The Regional Executive Committee will at some point meet to discuss these developments. The stakes are high now for the members of the Regional Executive Committee. They are now facing a call to do what is right for the Region, or fight for their own survival. The latter seems eminent. The leadership of the Region has in the past been able to divide the members on critical issues, such strategy being the foundation of their retention in their positions.

As Abraham Lincoln says:

A week has lapsed and the Region has not communicated anything about the convening of the Congress where a Motion of No Confidence on the it will be considered. This is synonymous to the time when the Extra Ordinary Congress of the 8th of September collapsed and the Region promised to reconvene soonest, and it did not until members started jumping up and down. Members have started writing letters again to the Region. Like in the past, the Region does not acknowledge those letter, and chooses to keep mum. This is the same behavior to got the Region to invite unnecessary pressure from member over the past few months, and still does not learn. This are the very things that erode confidence from members on the leadership. If PLFA was ever in doubt in the support of the motion, that doubt would be gone by now.

PLFA believes that the time is now for the Region to liberate itself from the lies, self-sustenance of individuals through the ignorance of others. This is the time for all members to open their eyes, see the rot and do the right thing. The Region requires leadership that is bias towards the organisation itself through religious application of its Constitution, Rules, and Directives.

The heat is on at the Region. Whilst this is the case, PLFA advises members to act within the provisions of the Constitution. It is being said that there are three (or even more) different versions of the Constitution in circulation (a situation created by the current leadership in the region). Fortunately all of these Constitutions spell out the same procedure for acting on this heat. The question therefore is: Will the fire be extinguished by wool being pulled over members eyes, like it has always been the case? Or will this fire be extinguished by having the right things done? The answer to this question, fortunately, is with the members of the region, not with the leadership towards whom confidence has been lost.

END