ANC set to slash number of guests

THE ANC has announced that it will reduce the number of guests to its upcoming national elective to create freedom for its members to discuss honestly the crisis plaguing the party.

This week, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe updated the media on the state of the party’s readiness for its 54th national congress set to take place next month in Nasrec, south of Joburg.

Mantashe said the party’s conferences had previously been bombarded by guests who were interested in attending.

These included fraternal organisations and alliance partners.

“We will keep that number to the minimum so that the ANC does discuss its problems, its policies and elect its leadership comprehensively and under conditions that are welcoming,” Mantashe said.

He said members in good standing must be given space to decide the future of the organisation.

Mantashe said just over 90% of the party’s branches eligible to attend the conference had successfully held their nomination meetings across all nine provinces.

He said while 70% was the threshold, the party wanted to ensure that 100% of the party’s branches make it to the conference to decide the future of their organisation.

“If we wanted we would just close because we are qualified for the conference and have exceeded the threshold by 20%.

“But we still want that remaining part of the 10% to get further branches to the conference of the ANC so that everybody participates,” he said.

By Tuesday, KwaZulu-Natal was the province with the most branches that had not sat at 15%, with 122 branches out of 806.

The Eastern Cape and Limpopo had 71 and 69 branches respectively that had not sat.

Northern Cape was the only province that had held all its nomination meetings, including its provincial general council (PGC), where the provincial structure endorsed Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to take over from President Jacob Zuma.

Mantashe said next weekend was the deadline for provincial structures to hold their PGC meetings where nominations from branches would be consolidated as provincial positions.

Ramaphosa and fellow presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma are current frontrunners in the race to replace Zuma.

While it will be individual branch delegates who will determine who wins at the conference, the nomination by provinces in their PGCs and the percentages of delegates they can bring to the conference will provide a good indicator.

KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC’s biggest province in terms of membership, will be entitled to bring 18% of the delegates, followed by Mpumalanga with a 16% share.

This is followed by the Eastern Cape and Limpopo who each have a 14% share.

Gauteng and the North West will bring 11% each.

The delegation from the Free State will account for 9%.

The remainder will be provided by the Northern Cape and Western Cape.

As the mop-up operation continues to clear the way for the conference, the Western Cape is expected to hold its PGC this coming weekend.

The Eastern Cape is set to hold its own PGC on Sunday and Monday.

The Free State is set to hold its PGC next week when it holds its provincial elective congress.

Long-serving chairman Ace Magashule is set to do battle for his post with deputy Thabo Manyoni.