ANC 6th POLICY CONFERENCE | Day 1: ANC policy conference hears proposals for an overhaul of its party membership

July 29 2022 - 22:18

ANC policy conference hears proposals for an overhaul of its party membership

The ANC wants all party members to renew their membership regardless of how long they have been with the party. All members will also have to be vetted. 

The move is aimed at rooting out those with criminal records. 

The proposal was made at the party's policy conference at Nasrec in Johannesburg on Friday.  ard. Should the policy conference adopt this position, it will make recommendations to the national conference in December.

July 29 2022 - 21:06

If the ANC becomes a rural party, it will be the end of the ANC — Makwetla

If the ANC becomes a rural party, it will be the end of the ANC.

This is according to party leader Thabang Makwetla who delivered the “Strategy and Tactics and Balance of Forces” paper to the party’s policy conference on Friday. 

Makwetla was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the conference where he outlined the challenges facing the party. 

July 29 2022 - 18:04

ANC at it's weakest since 1994 due to corruption, patronage, divisions

“Perhaps most strikingly, our weaknesses are evident in the divisions within our ranks. These are not divisions about policies or ideology, but are driven by the competition for positions, the contestation of structures and the pursuit of access to public resources.

“These divisions manifest themselves in patronage, gatekeeping, vote buying and manipulation of organisational processes. These divisions are driven by corruption and the need by those responsible for corruption to avoid detection and accountability.”

Ramaphosa told the gathering that voters were also unhappy with the poor state of ANC-run municipalities — some of which have had to be placed under national and provincial administration due to poor management.

July 29 2022 - 17:36

Ramaphosa takes a swipe at his predecessor Thabo Mbeki over social compact

President Cyril Ramaphosa has used the ANC's sixth national policy conference to hit back at former president Thabo Mbeki who criticised him for not fulfilling promises he made in his state of the nation address in February.

“We are continuing to put together the social compact, despite delays, despite challenges and I know that a number of us are continuing to be frustrated, to be disappointed with us not being able to conclude this,” said Ramaphosa on Friday.

July 29 2022 - 16:49

WATCH | 'The ANC is at its weakest,' Ramaphosa says as policy conference opens

ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has told ANC members to do some serious introspection during the party's sixth national policy conference.

Ramaphosa opened the conference by unpacking the details of policy proposals on the economy and job creation. 

He spent a significant amount of time speaking about the issues facing the party, saying the ANC is “at its weakest” since the dawn of democracy. 

July 29 2022 - 16:48

Ramaphosa wants gang who raped eight women in Krugersdorp arrested

President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered police minister Bheki Cele to ensure that the men who gang-raped eight models while they were filming a music video in Krugersdorp's West Village are apprehended. 

“We have directed the minister of police and law enforcement agencies to immediately embark on this to makes sure that the perpetrators of this crime are apprehended and dealt with,”  Ramaphosa told about 2,000 delegates attending the ANC's sixth national policy conference in Nasrec on Friday. 

July 29 2022 - 16:03

Ramaphosa puts his foot down on calls to scrap step-aside rule

ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has told the party’s national policy conference in Nasrec in the south of Johannesburg that the party will not abandon measures it adopted five years ago to fight corruption.

ANC provincial structures in KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo want the step-aside resolution abolished or radically reviewed, claiming it is being used for factional and internal battles.

'ANC is at its weakest, we are a divided movement': Ramaphosa

Ramaphosa wants policy conference to be a festival of ideas

Cyril Ramaphosa is accounting to ANC integrity body over Phala Phala

President Cyril Ramaphosa this week appeared before the ANC's integrity commission regarding the Phala Phala scandal and is expected to return for a second round.

ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Zizi Kodwa confirmed to the media on the sidelines of the ANC national policy conference in Nasrec, Johannesburg on Friday that Ramaphosa had appeared before the commission on Tuesday.

Discipline and possible ructions top of mind as ANC policy conference begins

As the ANC prepares to open its national policy conference, leaders are monitoring the event for any signs of disruption.

A meeting of provincial leaders took place on Thursday night to prevent disruptions that characterised the party’s regional conferences in recent weeks in the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal

Ramaphosa arrives at the ANC's 6th national policy conference

ANC’s national policy conference marred by delays but staff salaries paid

A press briefing on the state of readiness for the ANC’s sixth national policy conference has been delayed because the steering committee is receiving the final credentials report to be presented in plenary.

Co-ordinator in the ANC secretary-general’s office Gwen Ramokgopa said she does not expect disputes surrounding the credentials.

The party was expected to address the media at 7am at the Nasrec conference centre in Johannesburg but by 9am the briefing had not taken place.

EDITORIAL | The ANC must choose its policies sensibly — its credibility is at stake

The ANC’s sixth national policy conference this weekend takes place in the context of soaring prices, rising interest rates, stubbornly high unemployment and a widespread dissatisfaction with the administration of President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The runaway cost of living and a severe bout of load-shedding, on the first anniversary of the riots that shook KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng, have combined to sour the national mood.

WATCH | Here’s why you should pay attention to the ANC policy conference

The ANC’s policy conference kicks off on Friday, and while for many this event might come across as an internal party talk shop, it has implications for the country as a whole.

The ruling party’s 180-page policy document sets out its road map for the next few years and ranges from economic and social transformation to education, health and technology proposals.

The ANC will spend the next three days debating proposals put forward by committees and the outcome will form the basis for its election plans in 2024. 

EUSEBIUS MCKAISER | Heard the one about the ANC promising 'organisational renewal'?

The African National Congress will turn us all into jaded cynics if we aren't careful. The sooner we recognise that the ANC isn't entitled to constitutional power but must earn it, the better our chances are of avoiding becoming jaded, cynical and disengaged.

The starting point is to reject the joke (badly masked as a policy proposal) about the ANC renewing itself in our lifetime. It's never going to happen. Rejecting this lie will unlock our creativity, so that we can begin the exercise of seriously imagining and mapping out a post-ANC political reality. 

I myself had to avoid becoming disengaged and jaded while working through and thinking about the ANC's policy proposals that will, in theory anyway, be debated by delegates who travelled from around the country, to Johannesburg for the weekend.

Mashatile calls urgent meeting to discuss how to deal with unruly delegates at policy conference

Acting ANC secretary-general Paul Mashatile has called an urgent meeting with provincial leaders to discuss measures to prevent misbehaviour of delegates ahead of the party’s policy conference starting on Friday. 

This follows scenes in Durban where some delegates chanted slogans and sang “wenzen’  uZuma” when President Cyril Ramaphosa took to the podium to address the KZN provincial conference.

PODCAST | Step-aside issue set to dominate policy conference and influence ANC leadership

Today on the Sunday Times Politics Weekly podcast, we look at one of the most important events on this year’s political calendar, the ANC’s policy conference, which prepares for the organisation’s national conference in December.

Hypothetically, if the proposals of the policy conference are adopted in December, they should feed into government policy and directly affect your life and mine. The question is whether the ANC is attuned to the problems faced by the country or whether its leaders are living in a leadership bubble.

Court bid to halt ANC national policy conference looms as staff not paid

ANC staffers, struggling to make ends meet after not being paid for two months, have embarked on a go-slow and are threatening to interdict the party’s national policy conference scheduled for the weekend. 

The Luthuli House workers picketed on Monday for the umpteenth time in a bid to air their grievances, some of which date back to 2019, accusing ANC leadership of being “the most uncaring leadership for staff welfare”.

The conference, scheduled to take place at Nasrec, is expected to be attended by thousands of delegates who, among other issues, will discuss party policy and the ANC’s succession debate.

PODCAST | Will the ANC go quietly in 2024?

Veteran SA editor and commentator Tim du Plessis tells Peter Bruce in this edition of Podcasts from the Edge that he worries the ANC may not accept the 2024 general election result if it loses badly.

This is a party that knows only liberation struggle and state power, he says. Opposition is foreign territory. Since it lost power in the Western Cape — its only real experience of a major loss — the ANC in the province has withered on the vine and is all but dysfunctional.

Step-aside rule hangs in the balance as ANC’s two biggest provinces call for its scrapping

The ANC’s two biggest provinces are lobbying for the scrapping of the step-aside rule, which prohibits criminally charged party members from contesting leadership positions and requires them to vacate party or government roles.

KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo head to the ANC national policy conference this weekend having adopted resolutions at their provincial conferences and general councils that the rule should be abolished.

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