Newly elected ANC leaders get down to business this week with annual January 8 statement by Zuma

THE ANC gets down to business this week, with its newly-elected national executive committee (NEC) to hold its first meeting in Durban on Friday.

On Saturday President Jacob Zuma is to deliver the party’s annual January 8 statement, which sets out its political goals for the year.

One of the first tasks will be to elect the party’s national working committee (NWC). Lobbying for positions was well under way this week as the party marked the end of its centenary celebrations and the start of its 101st year.

The ANC centenary flame traversed the country last year and will now move to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma is chairwoman of the African Union Commission.

Although Dlamini Zuma received the most votes among the 80 additional members elected to the new NEC, it is unlikely the demands of her new post will allow her to continue being a member of the NWC.

The NWC comprises the ANC’s top six officials as well up to a quarter of the NEC’s additional members.

Elections for the working committee are the first and most pressing task for the NEC.

Mandated to carry out and oversee the decisions and instructions of the NEC, the NWC does not have decisionmaking powers, but it does wield considerable influence and plays a supporting role in the work of the top six ANC officials, analysts said.

The beleaguered youth league has been without a president or secretary-general since Julius Malema was expelled by the ANC and Sindiso Magaqa suspended last year.

While there’s no strict formula for electing the working committee, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said “availability to execute” its work was required, while 50 percent of its members had to be women.

The ANC’s youth, women’s and veterans’ leagues are each to appoint one representative to the NWC. Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, Communications Minister Dina Pule, former communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda and ambassador to Germany Makhenkesi Stofile will not be returned to the NWC as they were not reelected to the NEC.

Insiders speculate that ANC political education head Tony Yengeni and Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande will also not return to the NWC.

Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and Justice Minister and ANC policy head Jeff Radebe are favourites to return, as is Public Service and Administration Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.

Also expected to be included in the NWC are Deputy Speaker in the National Assembly, Nomaindia Mfeketo; Science and Technology Minister Derek Hanekom; and Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor. With Mbalula out, speculation is that rising star Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba will be included in the working committee.

Among the tasks for the incoming NEC are establishing an integrity commission, a plan announced at the party’s national conference last month. The integrity commission is to have powers to investigate members, including public servants, implicated in corruption.