Quality not quantity

Dumisani Dube

Picture: Dumisani Dube

Quality over quantity - that's the recommendation of the ANC policy conference, which says the size of the party's powerful national executive committee should be reduced from 80 to 60 members.

The need for stricter discipline and the need to strengthen disciplinary processes also featured strongly as delegates discussed the state of the ANC.

Decisions taken at the policy conference, which ends today, will be communicated to branches before coming before the ANC's national conference in Mangaung in December for formal ratification.

In a key decision on Thursday, delegates rejected a proposal that the next 20 years be characterised as a second transition, opting instead for calling it the "second phase of the transition".

This issue was hotly debated and the topic of much speculation, as the "second transition" was championed by President Jacob Zuma and seen by some to be linked to his bid for a second term, and either supported or opposed on that basis.

But while delegates may have resisted the name, ANC policy chief Jeff Radebe told media there was broad agreement on the strategic thrust of the document.

“All commissions have accepted the content and the thrust of the document as you know it,” Radebe said.

Delegates backed keeping the 2007 Strategy and Tactics document adopted at the ANC's Polokwane conference.

On organisation renewal, delegates recommended that ANC members had to have a political track record of a decade or more to qualify for membership of its most powerful decision-making body between conferences, the national executive committee.

Gauteng provincial secretary David Makhura, accompanied by the party’s head of organisation-building, Fikile Mbalula, said the ANC would also set up a monitoring and evaluation system for its members in leadership positions.

“We want to reduce the size of the NEC, it is too big. And this won’t affect the quality of the NEC. We want to raise the bar about qualifying to be in the NEC. You will need 10 years or more of proven track record of leadership. And in order to qualify you must have undergone political training,” said Makhura.

Delegates also want the waiting period for ordinary membership of the ANC to be six months, which will include compulsory training and community work.

Those who failed to meet the requirements after six months, “won’t be granted membership” said Makhura.

A proposal that the heads of the ANC's youth, women's and veterans' leagues be titled chairmen and women rather than called president was not finalised as it would mean amending the ANC's constitution.

Makhura said the status quo would remain.

“The leagues must stay as they are, autonomous. But the ANC must take over their political education,” said Makhura.

He also said discipline was one the focal points of discussions on organisational renewal.

“What we re-affirmed is that discipline must be strengthened at different levels. We need a much deeper approach in dealing with it,” said Makhura.