ANC crucial consultative conference

Party has not substantively dealt with the issue of the Gupta family

ANC STALWARTS yesterday slammed the ruling party, saying it had failed to implement any of the self-correcting measures suggested by the veterans a year ago.

This came as the veterans – initially dubbed the 101 stalwarts – geared-up for the start of their two-day national consultative conference (NCC) today.

The conference is aimed at zooming-in on the crisis facing the ANC and the country under President Jacob Zuma.

The stalwarts initially called on the ANC to organise the conference, but the call was rejected by the party.

This week ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said the party was not recognising the conference and would not be sending any representatives to the meeting.

ANC stalwart Murphy Morobe said the conference would include all sectors of society, such as the religious community, civil society organisations and alliance partners of the ANC.

“Even if the ANC will not send anyone, there will be plenty of people from the ANC who will attend this conference,” Morobe said.

“Many people know that this conference is important if we are to revive the ANC. For people who have been voting for the ANC, this is a platform to reflect on what has gone wrong and what can be done to regain the moral authority and confidence of society,” Morobe added.

With the ANC gearing-up for its elective congress next month, Morobe said the conference would be one of the important points of discussion.

He said since the group of stalwarts came together and complained about the deteriorating state of affairs under Zuma, the ruling party had failed to address any of their concerns.

“The ANC has not dealt with the fact that we are being led by a President (Zuma) who has violated the constitution.

“The ANC has not dealt with the issue that we have a Parliament that is not able to hold him to account.

“The ANC has not substantively dealt with the issue of the Gupta family and we want these issues to be dealt with openly,” Morobe said.

The ANC Veterans League (ANCVL) has, however, resolved that it would be a party of the conference as a formal structure of the ANC.

ANCVL president Snuki Zikalala said the party would never be able to correct its problems if it did not honestly address and deal with them.

“We have definitely lost the moral ground as the organisation and without self-correction we cannot reclaim our moral ground,” Zikalala said.

ANC presidential hopeful Lindiwe Sisulu said she was duty bound to attend today’s consultative conference as it would possibly provide solutions to the immediate problems faced by the party.

Sisulu said given the experience of the stalwarts it had the capacity to help the ANC pull itself out of its internal crisis.

“I therefore believe that the NCC provides a window of opportunity for the ANC to talk not only to itself but also to its allies and civil society about re-imagining its future and that of our country,” Sisulu said.