ANC in spotlight on eve of policy indaba

Bishop of the Free State His grace ------ ------ prays over president Jacob Zuma at the closing of the ANC Free State conference on Sunday.Picture: Timothy Bernard24.06.2012Bishop of the Free State His grace ------ ------ prays over president Jacob Zuma at the closing of the ANC Free State conference on Sunday.Picture: Timothy Bernard24.06.2012

Bishop of the Free State His grace ------ ------ prays over president Jacob Zuma at the closing of the ANC Free State conference on Sunday.Picture: Timothy Bernard24.06.2012Bishop of the Free State His grace ------ ------ prays over president Jacob Zuma at the closing of the ANC Free State conference on Sunday.Picture: Timothy Bernard24.06.2012

Published Jun 25, 2012

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All eyes will be on Midrand this week when the ANC policy conference kicks off on Tuesday.

The last big gathering of the ANC before it elects new leaders in Mangaung in December, and with the ANC divided over whether or not President Jacob Zuma should serve a second term, it’s also expected to be the scene of intense behind-the-scenes lobbying.

Senior party officials will be hard-pressed to ensure that policy questions, rather than succession, are the focus of discussions.

Zuma will open proceedings on Tuesday. Delegates will go behind closed doors to debate a host of issues – but the economy, including nationalisation and the land question, are expected to dominate.

The ANC Youth League is determined to push for wholesale nationalisation of the mines and other economic sectors such as banks.

It also wants land to be expropriated without compensation.

The youth league could also try to get accepted a motion from the floor that the expulsion of its leader, Julius Malema, be discussed.

It was reported on Sunday that Malema felt kicked-to-the-kerb by the league’s focus on policy discussion rather than his plight and that of suspended league spokesman Floyd Shivambu and secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa.

No fewer than 13 policy documents will be up for discussion by the more than 3 500 delegates, including one that proposes a “second transition” for the country.

Economic transformation, gender issues, education and health, legislature and governance and international relations are also up for discussion, as well the state of the ANC itself.

ANC head of policy, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe, has said there will be no “holy cows”.

A controversial proposal from the ANC women’s league wants sex work to be decriminalised, while the SACP has questioned the ANC’s policy on black economic empowerment.

A document on state intervention in the minerals sector suggests that nationalisation, where the state would buy up the country’s mineral assets, is unaffordable at an estimated price tag of R1 trillion. It recommends greater state intervention instead.

Factional in-fighting and jockeying for positions have been a feature of provincial party conferences in the run-up to this week’s conference.

By late on Sunday, official policy positions by the North West, Free State and the Eastern Cape had not been made public, but opposition to the notion of a second transition by, among others, Cosatu and the ANC in Gauteng, was being read as opposition to a second term for Zuma.

Political Bureau

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