ANC branches are expected to flex their muscle at the party’s December elective conference and remove the powers of the step aside resolution from the national executive committee (NEC).
The NEC is the party’s most powerful decision-making body between conferences, but at the national conference, branches are expected to call for changes to the way the contentious and controversial policy has been implemented, ANC insiders said.
KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo said after the provincial conference in July that there was a need to urgently review the implementation of the step-aside resolution as it appeared to be selectively applied.
Insiders said that Gauteng, Limpopo, North West, Mpumalanga and KZN have an understanding among branches on the issues and want these to be dealt with it swiftly.
“Branches will raise this issue on the conference floor and it must be dealt with. Provinces tried to deal with it at the national policy conference but the NEC wanted to continue with it. Branches will have the final say at the elective conference,” a source said.
Ntokozo Nxumalo, the regional secretary of the Mzala Nxumalo region in KZN, said branches in their region would challenge the resolution.
“This is not a genuine resolution as it has been amended since the 2017 elective conference. The NEC has run with the resolution but branches will restructure it. The step-aside rule is important but it needs to fall under the party’s disciplinary committee,” said Nxumalo.
He said there was a need for a step-aside resolution but branches were not happy with the way it has been implemented.
Political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe said the step-aside rule was controversial as the party had failed to properly manage it.
“Branches find the resolution to be problematic as it is informed by state organs that can influence the political outcome.
“At the December conference, the power of the NEC will be dissolved and the branches will take over. The matter will be raised from the floor,” Seepe said.