ANC in the Eastern Cape to hold consultative conference

THE provincial executive committee (PEC) of the ANC in the Eastern Cape will convene a consultative conference at the East London City Hall this weekend.

ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane said this was a “drive to do an introspection,” following the “shocking” drop of support during last year’s local government elections.

The party lost about 10% of its support at the polls in August, a loss which he says forced the ANC to ask “ourselves hard questions, in preparation for the 2019 general elections”.

In the Eastern Cape the party lost the Nelson Mandela Metro and Kouga Local Municipality to the DA.

The consultative conference is the brainchild of 106 veterans including respected anti-apartheid struggle figures such as the late Ahmed Kathrada, Andrew Mlangeni, Gertrude Shope, Denis Goldberg, Mavuso Msimang, Sheila Sisulu and Ben Turok.

The veterans called for the consultative conference late last year in response to infighting within the party, and expressed concerns that the ANC’s deepening crisis required urgent attention.

Mabuyane said former Eastern Cape premier Makhenkesi Stofile was also in full support of such a gathering.

“He passed on while we were busy trying to conceptualise this idea.

“We [PEC] took the decision to have a consultative conference as post-elections we were of the view that the ground was shifting from the ANC in society. This conference will present an opportunity for the ANC to self-correct,” said Mabuyane.

Invited to the conference are organisations such as South African National Civic Organisation, ratepayers associations, individual ANC veterans as well as Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans.

“We have decided to go out there and allow people to say the things we don’t want to hear as long they will bring stability in our movement and heal the rifts.

“What is important is that we must use this as [an] information sharing [platform] so that we can be able to rise to the occasion and play the central role in leading society as the ANC,” Mabuyane said.

It will be a two-day event with about 350 delegates expected to attend.

The conference will also form as a buildup to next week’s provincial policy conference scheduled for Mthatha.

Next week’s session will see delegates from more than 700 branches across the province attending.

This will be in preparation for next month’s national policy conference which will be preceded by a national consultative conference in Soweto.