Mid-term review lacklustre on people governance
Traditional leaders’ role afterthought on agenda
THE ANC’s national general council (NGC), the governing party’s midterm review, gets under way today without the implementation plan for a “real activist” people’s Parliament – and a last-minute addition of a traditional leaders discussion document, rather than a report-back with concrete resolutions.
The special legislature and governance summit was never held, although NGC discussion documents say it would precede the NGC to develop a concrete implementation plan for the national legislature and a comprehensive report on recommendations regarding traditional leaders.
The implementation plan and recommendations produced by this special summit were meant to be tabled this weekend.
Instead, it is understood a traditional leaders discussion document, arising from the 2012 ANC national conference request for better clarity on the role of traditional leaders, was redrafted at the last minute in the run-up to this weekend’s gathering and will be tabled there in full.
ANC national spokesman Zizi Kodwa confirmed that the legislature and governance special summit did not take place – instead stakeholder meetings took place – adding: “The summit will now only take place after the NGC as part of preparations for the policy conference.”
Yet, Parliament remains a crucial institution of governance for the ANC, as do traditional leaders, who are widely regarded as a key voting bloc for the ANC in elections like the 2016 local government poll.
According to the draft programme, a total of five hours are set aside tomorrow for com- missions to discuss the various NGC sectoral discussion documents, including legislature and governance. The NGC assesses implementation of ANC national conference resolutions and how these have been translated into government policy and programmes.
This NGC review allows for adjustments of implementation and identifies areas for new policy. However, new policies, or policy revisions, can come into effect only after being officially adopted at the ANC policy conference to be held ahead of the 2017 ANC national conference.
The NGC legislature and governance focus is set to fall on whether to reduce the number of provinces. Already the KwaZulu-Natal provincial general council (PGC) has called for a 10-year programme to rejig South Africa’s provincial boundaries, while the Western Cape PGC has agreed overall on rationalising the number of provinces.
It remains unclear whether time just ran out for the special legislature and governance summit, or whether there were other reasons. Late last month, the ANC announced changes to the composition of its national executive committee’s subcommittees, which drive the vari- ous policy areas throughout the five years between national conferences.
It will now be up to newly appointed legislature and governance subcommittee chair Ayanda Dlodlo, also the Public Service and Administration deputy minister, to drive forward legislature and gover- nance matters.
In preparing for the NGC, Kodwa said the ANC had held a series of stakeholder engagements and canvassed views and inputs in the run-up to the NGC. It would be “wrong to ignore good advice”, he said, adding that a process to incorporate such input would be discussed this weekend and unfold thereafter.
The ANC engagements took place beyond the glare of the public out of respect for stakeholders’ requests for privacy. Thus little emerged in the public domain on interactions on the traditional leaders discussion document.
The last-minute NGC discussion document on traditional leaders comes as key draft legislation affecting rural communities and traditional leaders is being tabled in Parliament.
The potentially controversial legislative proposals include the Traditional and Khoi San Leadership Bill, which critics have described as reenforcing bantustan boundaries, and the Extension of Security of Tenure Amendment Bill, which deals with land ownership in traditional authority regions.
A revised Traditional Courts Bill is also under way despite its earlier version having failed parliamentary muster amid an outcry that it would unconstitutionally introduce a separate justice system for those living in the former bantustans.
Parliament, as the legislative sphere of the state, is crucial. Since the May 2014 elections, the public spotlight has fallen particularly on the National Assembly under Speaker Baleka Mbete, who is also the ANC national chairwoman. The House has seen torrid times amid scenes of chaos and stepped up political contestation.