One of the ANC’s historically powerful provinces, Gauteng, goes to Polokwane with diminished voting power after failed efforts to grow the party from where it was five years ago.
Gauteng will be taking fewer delegates to the conference than it did in 2002, when the ANC held its elective conference in Stellenbosch.
Only 354 voting delegates from Gauteng will take the road to Limpopo, which is a third of the dele-gation of 906 that the Eastern Cape has been allocated. In 1997 and 2002 Gauteng had the third-largest delegation, but it is now ranked fifth.
Together with Mpumalanga and Northwest it is one of three provinces that did not manage to increase its delegation. This comes despite the ANC’s decision to increase the number of delegates to the December conference from 3Â 397 to 4Â 000. Only 3Â 675 delegates will be from branches, while the rest of the voting block will consist of the national executive committee as well as youth league and women’s league delegates.
The province’s organisational report harshly criticises the failure to secure the target of 90Â 000 members.
In 2004 the province set this target, which constitutes 1% of Gauteng’s population, but when the recent membership audit was concluded the final audited membership of 59 909 fell far short. ‘This is a far cry from our self-imposed target,†the report states.
The province, it says, has become too comfortable with an average of 150 members per branch.
The newly-elected chairperson, finance MEC Paul Mashatile, and the new provincial executive committee (PEC) will need to reassess work done by their predecessors, especially that involving ordinary ANC members.
In a close contest Mashatile beat Angie Motshekga to succeed Premier Mbhazima Shilowa as chairperson of the ANC in Gauteng. Provincial housing minister Nomvula Mokonyane was elected deputy chairperson.
Some new faces in the provincial executive committee include former National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi and businessman and close Mashatile associate Nkenke Kekana.
‘Although we did a great deal of interaction with branches, few PEC members have the motivation and inspiration to do grass-roots work. They are calling for more regular direct interaction between the base and the regional executive, PEC and national executive council members,†says the report, which was compiled by David Makhura and Mandla Nkomfe, who were re-elected as secretary and deputy secretary.
The report says administration at party offices in the province is not up to scratch. Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Metsweding are ‘riddled with administrative chaosâ€, while administration is disrupted by repeated break-ins at the ANC office.
The conference did not formally decide on the national leadership nominations because a provincial general council will be convened for this purpose before the deadline for nominations at the end of next month.