Consultative conference needed to help ANC ‘self-correct’ – stalwarts

THE ANC’s self-correction mechanism could be an on-going process should the current attempts by a group of concerned stalwarts to unify the factionalised ruling party succeeded.

A meeting between the ANC stalwarts subscribing to the document “For the sake of our future” and  Luthuli House on Monday  reaffirmed the need for a National Consultative Conference (NCC) aimed at helping the movement to self-correct.

‘For Sake of our future’ initiative came from the ANC stalwarts who were concerned about the on-going factionalism and divisions caused mainly by leadership succession debate in the ANC.

But independent political analyst, Dr Daniel Silke said the stalwarts unity initiative last year did not succeed because it was stymied by the ANC leadership and Zuma’s delaying tactics.

“The more time passes the less chance of their initiative succeeding,” Silke said.

Monday’s discussion looked at whether a consultative conference should not be used as a mechanism for on-going introspection and self-correction.

Both sides agreed that factionalism had badly affected the ANC and something had to be done to put the party back on the tracks.

“The parties to the meeting underlined the understanding that the NCC should not just be a single event but as part of a process that should go beyond both the policy and elective conferences of the party. Within the wide ranging discussion, the stalwarts once again clarified the main objectives behind the NCC and its expected outcomes,” the stalwarts said in a post-meeting statement.

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The meeting identified three areas for further work by a small team representing both the stalwarts and the Officials of the ANC.

Those include working towards identifying the best date for the NCC considering that the ANC national policy conference is scheduled for June 2017.

The stalwarts suggested that the ANC should ensure that all relevant structures be adequately represented including party branches so as to bring everybody on par with the thinking on the need for the organisational unity.

The meeting was part of the on-going introspection to ensure that the ANC found solutions to its challenges in the interests all South Africans.

Analyst Silke said whether the consultative conference succeeded or not, this year will resemble hard laboursee a lot of discussions or debate of ANC issues.

It’s going to be like hard labour, but it what he termed “hard labour” of debate around leadership and slates.

“It would be rather debilitating for the ANC,” Silke said.

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