/ 13 January 2012

ANC calls for public input on policies

The ANC will hold public meetings in February to invite South Africans to help the ruling party formulate its policies, spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said on Friday.

He said the ANC would release its draft policy documents after its national executive committee’s meeting, being held from February 2 to February 6.

The committee would consider all draft and discussion documents before they were sent to ANC branches for comment ahead of the policy conference in June.

“They are public documents and anyone will have the right to comment,” said Mthembu.

“The documents will be made available to the media or the ANC website.”

Economic matters
He said people with suggestions were welcome to make them at ANC branch meetings or at the ANC’s offices.

The ANC would also seek comment on its proposals from the economic, business and labour sectors.

The ruling party’s policy and elective conferences this year will reportedly fine tune government thinking on economic matters.

Last year, embattled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema pushed debate on the ANC’s adoption as policy nationalisation of the mining and banking sectors, and land expropriation without compensation.

Malema was recently found guilty by an ANC disciplinary hearing of bringing the party into disrepute and is appealing against his five-year suspension.

Formal call
During side rallies at the ANC centenary celebrations over the weekend, he reiterated the expression “economic freedom in our lifetimes”.

In December, the ANC in Limpopo became the first party structure to formally call for the implementation of Malema’s suggestions.

The ANC’s draft position on nationalisation will be in a booklet containing all the party’s proposed policies on among others the economy, education and health. It will be sent to branches in preparation for the June national congress.

Last year, the ANC commissioned an independent panel of experts to report on nationalisation. The report was supposed to be made public by the end of December, but it was sent back for redrafting. — Sapa