Down to business for ANC
[caption id="attachment_210068" align="aligncenter" width="630"] ALL SET: ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe briefs the media about the readiness for the six-day ANC national policy conference taking place at Nasrec in Johannesburg from today
Picture: MASI LOSI[/caption]
More than 5 000 delegates all set to kick off vital policy conference today
It is all systems go for the ANC as more than 5 000 party delegates convene in Johannesburg today to debate policy proposals that will have a direct impact on how South Africa is governed.
About 432 ANC branch delegates from the Eastern Cape – the second-biggest delegation after KwaZulu-Natal – will attend the much anticipated national policy conference.
With the December elective conference looming, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe warned yesterday against divisive songs about preferred leaders, saying only unifying songs would be allowed.
Speaking about the state of readiness for the conference, Mantashe said delegates should think twice before trying to use the platform to check on the balance of forces before the December conference.
He said booing would not be tolerated and he was confident the ANC would emerge united after the six-day conference.
The ANC released nine discussion papers in March which will be thrashed out in closed commissions for a large part of the six days.
After debating its position on the policy proposals last weekend, the ANC in the Eastern Cape will push for several outcomes, including that changes be made to the constitution to make it easier to implement the government’s land reform programmes.
ANC provincial spokesman Mlibo Qoboshiyane said they were proposing that a cap be placed on the number of hectares owned by farmers throughout the country.
If a farmer exceeds the threshold, the remaining portion of land should be expropriated with compensation and redistributed.
Other provincial policy conference resolutions were:
- The establishment of a state bank by expanding the capacity of Post Bank should be hastened by pushing all state accounts and the administration of social grants to Post Bank;
- There should be a speedy implementation of the call to provide free education for the poor up to the first degree;
- The autonomy of universities needs to be revisited to have the institutions accountable to the legislative arm of the state. The government should also have more say on the curriculum in institutions of higher learning;
- Over-exposure to the global financial markets should be avoided to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and avoid increased national debt;
- An expansionarymacro- economic policy that is geared toward economic growth rather than simple currency stability should be adopted;
- Ownership and control of the economy should be deracialised;
- A revolutionary electoral commission should be established to screen members vying for leadership positions;
- Provinces should be restructured and be done away with altogether, and local and central government must be strengthened;
- All members of the ANC in good standing should be allowed to directly elect the leadership of the ANC at all levels; and
- The proposed graduation tax model to fund free education should not be supported, and a more progressive model of tax should be considered to have the wealthy pay for the poor.
“It should not be used as a platform to measure strength of any of the emerging perspectives towards the 54th national conference of the ANC in December,” it said.
“The Eastern Cape will attend the conference as a united and solid province.” It said that the provincial elective conference which was supposed to take place next month would instead be held in East London from August 30 to September 3.
