ANC too occupied with pre-conference leadership squabbles to pay attention to real issues

The ANC in Gauteng says it is ready this weekend to continue with its 14th provincial conference, which was initially held from 23 to 26 June.

As the conference could not conclude its business, ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said the elected provincial office bearers, together with the relevant national and regional structures, will be hosting the continuation of the provincial conference.

Mabe said the conference will conclude the election of additional members of the provincial executive committee who were nominated.

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“Most importantly, the conference will pay particular attention to political discussions which will largely touch on organisational renewal, strategy and tactics, balance of forces, election strategy for 2024, and socioeconomic issues affecting Gauteng citizens,” he said.

“Another very important aspect we will pay particular attention to is to affirm, consolidate and sustain organisational discipline, fostering a sense of unity and renewal among the membership of the ANC in Gauteng.”

Ahead of the ANC’s national elective conference in December, the party’s provincial structures were criticised for placing a lot of attention on the election of leaders at conferences instead of focusing on service delivery and issues of national importance.

Political analyst Levy Ndou said such issues were raised because ANC gatherings attracted a lot of media attention and the public was aware of what happened.

He said there was a big problem with the time period during the conferences.

“One would argue and say it may be an elective conference and what was important is to deal with elections but equally the argument would be, why would you spend a lot of time discussing credentials and not spend longer hours discussing issues affecting the people who should be served,” said Ndou.

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“The ANC appears to be losing focus on important things and they want to focus on who should is or is not attending because their focus is on the elections, it was justifiable.”

Ndou added the reason the ANC in Gauteng had to continue the conference this weekend was because it could not organise the time allocated for important issues at the conference because it dealt with other matters in the name of “credentials”.

“Maybe now that they are going to elect additional members, they might have sufficient time to deal with policy matters,” he said.

“It is better for them to go and have discussions on policy when the focus will solely be on policy issues.”

The conference last month was marred by several delays over the adoption of credentials and a failed urgent court bid to halt it from going ahead.

Ekurhuleni delegate Jabulani Sithole lodged the application.

He claimed it was wrong to give the go-ahead for the Gauteng conference while the dispute over the 19 quarantined votes from five Ekurhuleni branches remained unresolved.

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Gauteng provincial secretary Thembinkosi Nciza said he did not know what the expectations were beyond the credentials adopted at the conference.

“The provincial chairperson Panyaza Lesufi indicated 1,022 delegates voted in the conference and those were the credentials adopted by the provincial conference,” he said

“You cannot accept credentials and open them. It is also not the only province where votes were quarantined.”

After the news that the ANC had financial problems, questions were raised over the funding of the provincial conference.

However, Nciza said: “The finances of the ANC are healthy and there was never an issue of it.”