Much is being made of the ANC's efforts to thwart media freedom in South Africa. Few people have realised, however, that the party is similarly gunning for the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) sector in the country. When the ANC has finished dealing with the Media, it is quite likely that the civil society sector will be next on their agenda.
Next month the ANC will hold a policy conference to review the policies adopted by the party. In the run-up to that conference, the party has released a series of policy papers on its website. Much has been made of threats contained in those documents to curb media freedom in South Africa via a media tribunal. The ANC of course denies that the tribunal is in any way designed to restrict freedom of speech.
What has not been picked up by the Media is that another of the policy documents suggests a clampdown on the funding and activities of civil society organisations. The document entitled ‘Leadership renewal, discipline and organizational culture' (see here - PDF) makes the long and very convoluted case that the party has suffered some setbacks or what it calls "organisational decay". It goes on to argue that steps need to be taken to "restore unity and cohesion to the movement". The document is so thickly interspersed with revolutionary jargon that it is at times difficult to follow its argument.
However, as best as we can make out, it goes on to argue that developments such as the communications revolution have led to a situation where groups other than ruling political parties are able to set the agenda for a country. It goes on to say that people do not have to wait for what it terms "official organisation channels" to talk to each other. It blames such communication for drowning out the "official voice of the organisation".
The document goes on to suggest that the ANC must engage with this new reality. It then seems to suggest a number of ways of doing this. It reiterates the resolution taken at its 2007 Polokwane conference to put in place a "regulatory architecture for the private funding of political parties and civil society groups". It suggests that the NEC of the ANC should propose an appropriate regulatory environment to control funding.
It goes on to suggest that money raised by private lobby groups is a potential threat. Here it asks the question whether the party is already in a position where vested interests and private money have come to exercise too great an influence over the future of the ANC itself.