The ANC’s Gauteng provincial coordinator, Panyaza Lesufi, is the latest leader to call for the scrapping of the delegate system in the party’s selection of its leaders.
Instead he has backed a previous proposal to allow for the entire membership of the party to be able to vote for its president directly. This, he says, will help resolve the factionalism, infighting and wrangling often associated with the easily manipulated delegate system.
Addressing the opening of the ANC greater Johannesburg regional elective conference, Lesufi said it was an opportune time for this idea to be presented ahead of the party’s upcoming national general council (NGC).
“We must all accept that this thing of having delegates going to a conference to elect leadership was good at its time, but it needs to be reviewed now. There are many people that, when their branch mandates them on what to do, when they come here they do the opposite and there are no consequences,” he said.
“We want to urge you, we are going to lobby other provinces, we want to carry this mandate. We discussed it in our PGC [provincial general council] last week and we want to also lobby other structures of the ANC. The leadership of the ANC must no longer be elected by delegates of the conference. All members of the ANC must vote for who must be president.”
If we can’t change, as we resolved in the last conference, our strategy and tactics document — the manner in which we elect our leaders — it will be the end of all of us
— Panyaza Lesufi, ANC Gauteng coordinator
This proposal has previously been considered by the party ahead of its 2022 elective conference. Several ANC leaders — including former president Thabo Mbeki, Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane, former KZN chair Sihle Zikalala and former KZN provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli — have advocated for the party to amend its voting system.
Lesufi decried how the delegate system has been corrupted over successive elective conferences, with those trusted with the election process being susceptible to being swindled away from their branch mandate or disrupting the proceedings if they do not get their way.
“We must be honest. You know it: they have done it now when you have come here, it will happen when we go to the province and it will happen when we go to national. If we can’t change, as we resolved in the last conference, our strategy and tactics document — the manner in which we elect our leaders — it will be the end of all of us.
“There are others who just want to be permanent delegates. There is one branch that you know that if there is a conference, this one is going to be a delegate, they are nominated by branch leaders. There is nothing wrong; the problem is that the permanents, if there is a threat to their deployment as a delegate, that person can either disrupt or run away.”
Next week the party will host its largest gathering between conferences at national level — a defining moment for the ANC’s mid-term gathering. Lesufi said this is an opportunity for the party to take stock of its current standing, while working towards paving a way forward past its challenges.
“The national general council is going to determine how best, as the ANC, we can confront the next stage of our revolution. The NGC is giving us an opportunity to take stock. For the first time in the history of our movement, this NGC is confronted with the possible non-existence of the ANC in the next 15 years. Therefore it must say how do we solve this.”
We said the people shall govern. The moment has arrived. All members must have a say
— Lesufi
He said this bold move will protect vulnerable delegates, who are said to “go through difficulties”.
“No one is going to buy all of us, no one is going to abuse delegates and no one is going to take advantage of our delegates. This is our organisation. All of us must vote for our leaders and all of us must say who must emerge. There must be no one who takes delegates somewhere, and another one takes delegates somewhere and convinces them in corners.
“We must defend the honour of the ANC and we must all actively choose the leader of the ANC. We said the people shall govern. The moment has arrived. All members must have a say.”
Lesufi added that this groundbreaking suggestion will not be the first time the province puts forward ideas which are adopted and end up shaping the ideological practices of the organisation.
“We must go there to continue with what we have presented before. The issue of step aside came from Gauteng. The issue of the integrity commission came from Gauteng. The issue of the building and renewal of the ANC came from the structures of the ANC. We must go to this NGC understanding some of the challenges we are facing and some of these issues must be non-negotiable.”
A hundred delegates will represent Gauteng at the upcoming national general council.
TimesLIVE
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