Members may have to declare wealth

DOGGED by corruption, factionalism and vote buying within its ranks, the ANC is now considering forcing members to disclose their sources of wealth and those campaigning for positions to declare their funders.

These were some of the proposals tabled at the ANC national policy conference currently under way at Nasrec.

The party admitted that it faced a host of problems, including factionalism, bulk buying of membership and battles over the control of resources.

ANC national executive committee member Fikile Mbalula presented a document outlining some of the radical changes that the party plans to undertake as part of the renewal strategy resulting from growing concerns that the party is bleeding support.

Proposals include the creation of a “revolutionary electoral council”, a body which would screen and interview members for eligibility before they could even stand for positions; opening up the campaigning process; and giving more powers to the party’s integrity commission.

The electoral council would be formed by members of the party who are not interested in any of the positions.

Mbalula said this was meant to deal with factionalism in the ANC, which in some cases had led to undeserving candidates making it to the party’s top leadership by virtue of their having the support of the strongest faction at that point.

“The council will help us exorcise the tendency of factionalism… We don’t want candidates who are affirmed by factions,” Mbalula said on the sidelines of day three of the six-day conference.

He said the council would evaluate members running for positions using The Eye of the Needle, the ANC’s guidelines on choosing its leaders.

On the matter of members having to declare their wealth, Mbalula said this was in order to deal with the issue of members having ill-gotten riches.

“We cannot say arrest and investigate all those who have questionable wealth, but we must be able to give an account of the personal wealth of individuals,” he said.