Independent Newspapers

Photo: Phill Magakoe.

The ANC's character should not change when it came to discipline and how members conducted themselves, its Free State chairman Ace Magashule said on Friday.

“Leaders come and go, but the ANC will remain because the character of the ANC does not change,” Magashule said at a Free State ANC centenary celebration in Bloemfontein.

“We do not interfere in other countries such as Zimbabwe, Libya, Botswana, Palestine or Israel,” said Magashule.

He said the ANC's policy of not interfering in other countries' business had not changed and the rest of the world respected South Africa for that.

“The affairs lie with that country and solutions must be found by its own people,” said Magashule.

He raised concerns over the ANC of “today” and said no party could function when its branches' decisions on issues like succession differed from those of its national general council.

“The subject of discipline to the ANC is very important: simple ANC discipline.”

Magashule said it should never be forgotten that the country’s freedom was not won by its leaders but by the simple, ordinary masses.

He urged the new leaders within the ANC to read the ANC’s documents because these documents would “remain” even after they had passed.

The ANC plans to hold its centenary celebrations in the Free State in 2012. The party was founded in Bloemfontein.

A local party spokesman said the centenary celebrations would take place in three phases.

Friday’s event by the provincial ANC structures involved speeches and talks on the party's history and experiences of veterans of earlier years. It formed part of the pre-celebration phase.

The actual centenary celebrations start with the January 8 rally to be held in Mangaung.

A large number of the ANC's international friends and allies from Africa and the world were expected to attend. - Sapa