ANC MEDIA STATEMENT ON THE OUTCOME OF THE NEC MEETING

The National Executive Committee held a special meeting on Monday, 03 December, 2012. The purpose of the meeting was to finalise the preparations for the National Conference, to be held at the University of the Free State, on December 16th - 20th, 2012.

The NEC adopted the programme of the 53rd National Conference. The opening of the conference which inter-alia include interfaith prayers, the national anthem as well as adoption of the conference rules of procedure and the conference programme will be conducted in an open session on the first day of the conference.

The Political report by the President and the Organisational report by the Secretary General will also be delivered in an open session on the first day of the conference. Discussion of credentials, the Financial Report and constitutional amendments will be the first closed session of conference. The nominations and announcements of election results of both the national officials and additional members to the NEC will be conducted by the Electoral Commission together with an elections agency, in open sessions.

Commissions will be divided into two main categories, the first set will comprise of organizational renewal and strategy and tactics, to be discussed by all sixteen commissions on the first day of commissions which is the second of the conference (17th December 2012). The second set of commissions will discuss policy issues and that will be on the third day of the conference (18th December 2012).

Plenary sessions to be held on the 4th day of the conference to receive reports and recommendations from commission will be conducted in closed sessions. This will include the presentation of draft resolutions, policies and programme of action for the next five years.  The closing session of the conference on the fifth day that will include; reading of the declaration of conference and the closing address by the president will be open.

The NEC expressed appreciation of the progress made in terms of holding of the Branch General meetings and the provincial nomination conferences. Ten nomination conferences were successfully held. Two nomination conferences, one in the Western Cape and one in Limpopo, collapsed for different reasons. The storming of the Limpopo nomination conferences by delegates who felt that they unfairly marginalized, was condemned. Disrupting an ANC meeting or gathering is not an option, immaterial of reasons thereof, the incident will be investigated further.  The disagreements at the level of the PEC of the Western Cape regarding delegates to the provincial nomination conference ultimately collapsed the conference.

The NEC decided that both of these conferences should be held on Wednesday 06 December, 2012. Failure to hold these conferences successfully will mean that the provinces will forfeit their right to nominate and will therefore only be able to exercise their nominating right from the floor of conference.

A team of six NEC members will be deployed to facilitate each of the two nomination conferences. The NEC teams that were handling the objections of branches in these provinces will also be in the nomination conferences so that they can readily confirm their determination. Branches that have been directed to re-run the BGMs, as part of the determination of the NEC Task Teams that heard the objections and complaints, will be allowed to do so. All these BGMs must be held by Friday, 7th December 2012.

The NEC noted with concern development surrounding the reported attempt on the life of the Provincial Secretary of the North West Comrade Kabelo Mataboge.  The ANC condemns such dastardly acts that can only undermine the effectiveness of the organisation.  We call on the police not to leave any stone unturned to bring to book those behind this heinous act.

The NEC approved both the organisational report and the financial report to the 53rd National Conference. The reports will now be taken for printing. The recommendations of the policy conference to the 53rd National Conference, together with the three reports to be tabled at the national conference (i.e, political report, organisation report and financial report), will constitute the content of the policy and organizational debates for the National Conference.

A detailed report on the yearlong centenary celebrations will also be circulated in the conference for delegates to have an insight into the work that went to these celebrations as well as work that remains to be completed. The conference will develop a programme that will take us into the future. As part of the input to these discussions will be: -

• The National Development Plan,
• The Infrastructure Rollout plan,
• The Census Report, 2011,
• The Annual National Assessment report on the state of our education.

These reports will help delegates understand progress made and use them to develop the programme into the future. The ANC appreciates that unless the organisation is strong, vibrant and responsive to the needs of our people, all the plans will remain on paper. The discussions on the organisational renewal and the strategy and tactics will be focusing the delegates on strengthening the organisation and also to ensure that the organisation adapts to the new conditions and terrain.

With regard to the nomination processes and election of leadership, the Electoral Commission will, in the course of next week, brief the media on progress made in this regard as well as its planned activities towards the 53rd National Conference.

We would like to inform the media that apart from the 4500 voting delegates we have also invited guests and non-voting delegates from within South Africa and the international arena.  These guests include our allies as well as former liberation movements and the diplomatic core, amongst others.

With regards to logistical arrangements for the conference, we are more than ready. We have already pre-registered 65% of all branch delegates and the remaining three provinces which are; Gauteng, North West and Limpopo will be finalized in the course of this week. We have received 850 application from the media and they are also being pre-registered.

The NEC Subcommittee on Policy will in the course of next week be interacting with the media regarding the focus of the various policy units as we move towards the 53rd National Conference.

We also take this opportunity to inform the media and South Africa that the National Office of the ANC will temporarily relocate to Mangaung from 10th December 2012.  All media briefings and interaction with the media will from that day happen from Mangaung.

Statement issued by Gwede Mantashe, ANC Secretary General, December 5 2012

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