“Our election majority has dropped over the years because a few people have become disillusioned with the party and others have abstained from elections to show their dissatisfaction”.
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Addressing the three-day event, which also serves to evaluate progress made by the party and government in implementing ANC resolutions, President Jacob Zuma said the NGC needs to analyse “what makes the party’s traditional voters unhappy”.
“There is a lot of work that must still be done to rid the movement of certain tendencies which may undermine the gains we have made”, President Zuma said in a News24 report.
The meeting will be more concerned about how Zuma “continues to exert a leadership role with a view to the looming succession story in the ANC”, said independent analyst Daniel Silke.
As a developing third world country, South Africa’s ability to create jobs and grow our economy relies heavily on trade and foreign investment.
“People who want to join the ANC are unable to do so while those who have joined find themselves being used as voting forums or to rubber stamp decisions of those who control the affected branches”, said Zuma. “The existence of factions and other tendencies tends to intensify in periods leading up to elective conferences”.
Zuma’s statement comes in the face of criticism from opposition parties against the ANC after it emerged that Japanese conglomerate Hitachi agreed to pay a $19-million penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges of alleged corrupt payments to the tune of $6-million to the ANC’s Chancellor House to secure Eskom contracts to build power stations. “This notion undermines the internal democracy and authority and centrality of the branches of the ANC”. It was later decided that the president’s assessment of the country and the organisation would be open.
A remedy for factionalism was a strong organisation.
“It is all about factionalism”, said Maphatsoe.
Many older South Africans still feel grateful to the African National Congress for winning their freedom from white-minority rule during apartheid, ensuring the party unbroken power for the past two decades.
Mantashe said they also expect representatives from Brics embassies.
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“The risk is that of the ANC being sold to the highest bidder, with leadership structures becoming gatherings of various business interests”.
