As the ANC prepares to open its national policy conference, leaders are monitoring the event for any signs of disruption.
A meeting of provincial leaders took place on Thursday night to prevent disruptions that characterised the party’s regional conferences in recent weeks in the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.
“We are fully aligned,” said Eastern Cape provincial chair Oscar Mabuyane and acting general secretary Paul Mashatile. However, a warning was issued about delegates attempting to disrupt proceedings, starting on Friday morning with an opening address by party leader Cyril Ramaphosa.
“You boo, I chase you out,” ANC chair Gwede Mantashe said in an interview with Business Day as attendees were streaming in.
About 1,800 delegates countrywide are convening for the strategic retreat at Nasrec, south of Johannesburg, over three days. This is the first time the ANC’s leadership elected in 2017 will reckon with the party’s rank and file, and following local government elections in 2021, which battered the party.
It was the biggest electoral loss the ANC has suffered since being voted into power in 1994 and political analysts predict an even greater loss in the national elections come 2024. But the party’s top brass has pegged its hopes on renewal, including through its step-aside rule, as a means of course correcting.
“The big debate will be about the step-aside rule, and most delegations including KwaZulu-Natal are not talking about scrapping the step-aside rule [any more] … it’s how do you implement it in a consistent manner,” said Febe Potgieter, ANC national administrator at Luthuli House.
The rule, which is expected to be a main sticking point in the closed sessions, says party members step down from public office once charged in a court of law thus removing them from political play.
Leaders affected by this rule to date include provisionally suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule, Limpopo treasurer Danny Msiza, and former eThekwini mayor and now the party’s regional chair for KwaZulu-Natal, Zandile Gumede.
Potgieter explained that three hours were set aside for debates around the step-aside rule and emphasised that more time would be spent on organisational matters around policy issues, including the economy.
“The president’s opening input, political overview — that’s how we set the tone,” she said.
Ramaphosa is expected to speak late on Friday morning.
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