/ 13 December 2012

Polokwane resolution #5: Establish the veterans’ league

How much influence does the ANC Veterans' League hold?
How much influence does the ANC Veterans' League hold?

How much progress has the ANC made on their last set of goals before they look to setting new resolutions at the Mangaung conference? Look out for our series of reports on how the party's wishes have been achieved under president Jacob Zuma's leadership.

More resolutions:
Resolution #1: Political school
Resolution #2: Women's ministry
Resolution #3: On willing buyer, willing seller
Resolution #4: One million-member party

Resolution: To establish the veterans' league of the ANC, finalise its constitution and uniform, and ensure it is fully functional at all levels by the time of the centenary anniversary.

Progress: The ANC Veterans' League has been established and caters for members who are 60 years old and above, with 40 years of uninterrupted and unbroken service to the party.

Just like the ANC's youth and women's leagues, the ANC Veterans' League, led by Sandi Sejake, is the party's constitutional structure that enjoys full voting rights at the party's conferences. 

The ANC's plan was to utilise the veterans' experience in the ANC to provide guidance when the party faced challenges.

But less than five years after the league was established there are already concerns about its perceived failure to be the custodian of the party's integrity.

While the Polokwane 2007 resolution said the ANC should make "strategic use" of the veterans' league to uphold the party's integrity, party elders have had little effect on the party and operate like the youth and women's leagues.

There are also threats the league could be stripped of its role as a guardian angel after its leader Sejake's public criticism of Zuma's leadership style, which was seen as taking sides in leadership battles.

Next week's Mangaung congress is likely to assess the veterans' contribution to improving the image of the party.