ANC IN CREDIBILITY CRISIS
Party paper documents challenges
THE ANC is worried that it appears to be soft on stamping out corruption in the face of high profile trials involving its senior leaders.
In one of a series of discussion documents to be released tomorrow, the party laments how
“the moral authority of the ANC as a movement and its leadership are called into question, [being] either framed as having lost its moral compass or as representing a self-serving elite”.
The party points out that it is facing a credibility crisis where doubts are beginning to creep in as to whether it indeed has the capability to lead “and implement the programme of social and economic transformation ...”
The party frankly admits that it has become a ... “political machine to distribute power and resources” among the party elite.
In recent times, heavyweight ANC leaders have been arrested and charged with corruption which is the reason, the party says, it appears to be soft on corruption.
These heavyweights include jailed former police commissioner Jackie Selebi, ANC NEC member Tony Yengeni who served time in jail for defrauding parliament by accepting a bribe, current Northern Cape party chairman John Block who is facing corruption charges as well as the party’s Kwazulu-natal MEC Peggy Nkonyeni and Mike Mabuyakhulu who are facing corruption charges.
The ANC has over the years been concerned about the impact of what it calls
“the sins of political incumbency [power]” on the party and its members and the need to get tough on rooting out corruption.
For the first time, the ANC also admits to sidelining it’s alliance partners, using them only as campaign machinery during elections.
This assesment is contained in a discussion paper titled, Building a national democratic society and the balance of forces in 2012, prepared for the party national policy conference to be held in June.
This and other documents are to be made public tomorrow and recommended policies will be forwarded to the ANC elec- tive conference in December.
The paper says the ANC faces challenges of incumbency and subjective weakness that it tends to address in a piecemeal way.
The paper proposes that the party’s up-coming elective conference in Mangaung in December take bold and comprehensive decisions concerning its renewal over the next two decades. Among others things, the ANC says it still has to resolve how it can involve public sector unions in policy decision-making processes.
“We should admit that ... the ANC has neglected to do consistent political work and engage with a range of sectors, including trade unions, besides during election campaigns,” the paper says.
The party says while it continues to enjoy the support of the majority in the country, there are a number of challenges facing the country.
These include the relationship between the ANC and the people, the need to modernise the party’s administration and the need to monitor implementation of its policies so as to hold those deployed accountable.