ANC delegates at the governing party's 55th national conference at the Johannesburg Expo Centre. Picture: Nigel Sibanda/The Citizen
Delegates at the ANC’s 55th national conference at the Johannesburg Expo Centre are expected to adopt conference credentials and nominate the governing party’s top six officials this evening.
That’s according to outgoing ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe, who briefed the media on Saturday on the developments at the party’s congress in Nasrec, south of Johannesburg.
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ANC delegates spend most of Saturday in closed-door sessions deliberating on the party’s various internal reports, including the organisational report and the financial report.
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With the reports having been presented, Mabe said the next phase of the gathering was for commissions to be in session and debate those reports.
He said later on Saturday evening delegates will be adopting the credentials report and the amendments to the ANC’s constitution.
These constitutional amendments are related to the composition of the party’s top six national officials.
They are growing calls from some party delegates for the top six officials to include the position of a second deputy secretary-general, and this issue will be finalised this evening.
“When we go back to plenary, the credentials report will be presented for adoption.
“Once credentials are adopted, we will move to formalise and finalise the [ANC constitutional] amendments,” said Mabe.
He said what will follow would be the nomination of the top six officials at the conference plenary.
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In order for a candidate to qualify for nomination on the conference floor, Mabe said contenders for the top six positions should meet a 25% threshold to be included on the ballot paper.
Mabe added the ANC was “racing against time” to ensure that it completes its conference programme on schedule following delays on the first day of the congress on Friday.
“The programme of the conference is fully on track,” he said.
The ANC’s national conference is expected to conclude on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the ANC’s organisational report shows that its membership declined from a peak of 1.2 million in 2017 to a current 600 000.
According to the report, although the governing party has one million members “at any time,” weaknesses encroached on proper management of its system.
Inactive branch members, buying of members who never become active, a slow card membership system, decline in quality and disciplined members were some of the reasons attributed to decreased membership.
Mpumalanga, whose membership was at 158 598 in 2017, has lost 62% of members to date. The province shed the most members compared to the others.
The new technology system was meant to ensure speedy delivery of membership cards, allow online renewal and discourage gatekeeping, among others.
However, this has since exposed illegal practices, such as branch leaders refusing to process membership applications and abusing their powers as administrators.
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“This is a challenge that is receiving attention. Some use tactics to bypass or work against the system by employing all sorts of tricks to convene meetings, in contravention of the guidelines and the constitution of the ANC.
“This is not about the system, but rather a subculture that the ANC will definitely have to deal with in order to transform such behaviour. If individuals resist, then the ANC must ensure that appropriate disciplinary processes are followed to rid itself of such behaviour and the individuals.”
Following his election in 2017, Ramaphosa kicked off his presidency in Parliament with the “Thuma Mina [send me]” slogan, borrowed from the late musician Hugh Masekela’s jazz hit.
The organisational report noted that ANC officials took the campaign across all provinces and interacted with South Africans. These engagements were however jilted.
“The campaign played a major role in the 2019 election campaign and gained wider support beyond the ANC. However, in that election, we managed to reach a negligible percentage of less than 15% of ANC supporters through our door-to-door work, rallies and smaller activities.
“After the elections, we largely abandoned these engagements with the people, although we maintained our elections capacity.”
The party says it finds it difficult to organise in urban areas in all provinces, and, unlike the working class and the poor – the middle class has not been consistent in their support for the ANC, read the report.
“Their support is contingent on what is perceived to be material interest. We see this in the larger towns and metros, where support is at its lowest and has consistently been so over the last number of elections.”
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