ANC calls on its structures to discuss Mboweni’s economic policy paper

The ANC’s top six leaders have committed to placing Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s economic discussion document on the agenda at the next meeting of its national executive committee.

ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe, in a media statement on Tuesday, said the NEC, which is the ANC’s highest decision-making body between conferences, would consider and discuss the different responses from within the tripartite alliance to Mboweni’s proposed economic reforms.

Last week, the National Treasury published a 77-page report titled Economic Transformation, Inclusive Growth and Competitiveness: Towards an Economic Strategy for South Africa. It contains numerous proposals to reverse South Africa’s economic “downward trend”, while creating job opportunities.

The document has drawn severe criticism from the ANC’s alliance partners, with labour federation Cosatu describing Mboweni as being “rogue” and the SACP saying it had “serious concerns” about the report and its sudden release.

Alliance partners were caught off guard by the proposal and said it should have been discussed within the tripartite alliance.

The ANC’s top six leaders, during their regular Monday meeting, also met with Mboweni and the party’s chairperson of the sub-committee on economic development, Enoch Godongwana, over the report.

“The meeting resolved that the structures, including branches of the ANC, should be engaged and be allowed to make comments on the discussion paper to the Economic Transformation Committee through its chairperson, Godongwana and Andries Nel, (who is) the NEC and the national working committee coordinator,” Mabe said.

He said they had also agreed that the party’s alliance partners should discuss the document within their own structures.

“The national officials calls on our alliance partners, mass democratic movement formations, civil society, the business community and all people of South Africa and their organised formations, to make inputs that would enrich the document and set the country on a sustained growth trajectory,” said Mabe.

He said while ANC processes around the discussion document unfolded, the government would also continue with its own work on the report.

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