ANC membership up for audit
THIS week the ANC’s national audit and verification team will descend on the Western Cape to audit and verify the party’s membership in all six regions of the province.
The outcome of the audit will determine how many delegates the Western Cape ultimately sends to December’s elective conference, where ANC members will elect a new leadership.
ANC Western Cape secretary, Faiez Jacobs said each region will be given a chance to come to the party’s provincial office where they will bring the “branch file” which is a list of members in each of the branches.
Last month the ANC’s Dullah Omar region was disbanded by the party’s provincial executive ostensibly over gate-keeping and the manipulation of branch membership which would determine delegates to December’s conference. The disbandment was reversed by the ANC’s national working committee, after appeals by Dullah Omar’s regional leadership.
Earlier this year the ANC’s provincial executive, in a statement, called on President Jacob Zuma to step down over his numerous controversies while leaders in the Dullah Omar region, the largest of the ANC’s six in the Western Cape, actively supported Zuma and Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to succeed him.
Now regional leaders would have to prove their membership claims and that these are fully paid up with a bank deposit slip.
“The process should last no more than two weeks. There will be an opportunity for disputes before BGMs (branch general meetings) take place,” said Jacobs.
He said after the verification process each branch will have a list of its membership and those who want to dispute this would be free to do so.
Ahead of the 2012 ANC elective conference, the party’s Western Cape audit membership stood at 38 499 which meant that it sent only 178 delegates to a conference which re-elected Zuma. In September discussions over the succession race in the ANC will be formally opened when branches can voice their preference.
“Membership should not be prejudiced because of administrative failures. If people feel they are members and their names don’t appear (on the membership list) they should have a right to appeal,” said Jacobs.
In July ANC Treasurer-General Zweli Mkhize confirmed the ANC was investigating membership fraud in four provinces – KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In KZN there are believed to be as many as 200 000 “ghost” members.