/ 28 June 2008

So far, so smooth at ANC Youth League congress

Organisers of the second round of the ANC Youth League conference, which started in Johannesburg on Friday, went through exhaustive preparations that resulted in a smooth process that saw 75% of the delegates being registered pre-conference.

Registration day on Friday saw most delegates only arriving to collect their accreditation as opposed to the first conference in Mangaung where accreditation issues disrupted the conference.

The registration of delegates was held at a venue 15 minutes away from the main conference hall, while a security company was hired to deal with the registration of delegates at provinces long before the start of the conference.

Speaking to the Mail & Guardian at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus, which was the venue used exclusively for registration purposes, league secretary general Vuyiswa Tulelo explained the process.

‘At congress we want accredited congress delegates. We don’t want people who are friends to delegates, friends of the friends of the delegates, but people who have got the mandate of their branches.”

In a bid to avoid a repetition of the Mangaung conference, which was marred by controversy and delegate registration backlogs, the organisation has pulled out all the stops to ensure as smooth as possible a registration process and a conference characterised by debate, not by drama.

This time around, Tulelo said, the organisation kick-started registration in the nine provinces of the country using provincial general councils (PGCs), which also verified delegates who qualified to attend the Nasrec leg of the national conference.

The PGCs were also used to lay down the law on delegate behaviour after the last conference was disrupted by unruly behaviour, with some delegates even flashing their private parts.

‘We also used those provincial general councils to discuss our political behaviour with our members, so our members understand that how we behave in the ANC has got a direct impact on society and a direct impact on the ANC itself,” said Tulelo.

The Mangaung conference eventually ended without the election of additional members of the national executive committee (NEC) and with no discussion on a single resolution.

This time, the league also contracted a Centurion-based private company, Pinpoint Security Services, to register and verify delegates. The company began its work in the nine provinces doing pre-registration prior to this week’s conference.

‘The nice thing about the people who are doing registration is that I don’t know them, nobody else knows them. They are an independent service provider; they have got a brief and are working on the basis of the brief,” said Tulelo.

A Pinpoint Security Services official who wished to remain anonymous said his company had developed software to help with registration and verification of delegates. The software allows for tracking of delegates within various venues.

He said the company will be using this service at the polling stations to guard against delegates attempting to vote more than once.

The official said another company will be administering the system to be used for tallying the votes.

To avoid delegates arriving at the same time and loitering around at the registration venue, Tulelo said the youth league introduced a system where arrival and departure times from the various provinces were staggered for maximum efficiency.

To ensure equal and fair treatment of delegates, Tulelo said the league is housing delegates in one hotel in Berea, which can accommodate 4 000 people, and is ferrying the delegates in the same standard luxury buses.

‘We have engaged with the metro police and they are going to assist us to escort the buses so that we are able to beat the traffic in the morning,” said Tulelo.

The M&G also spotted four cars belonging to Gauteng’s crime combating unit on the grounds of the university — part of the tight security at the registration process, which unlike Mangaung was characterised by serenity.

Tight security

  • Delegates get off their buses.
  • Identity checked against a list at the gate. The lists contain the delegates names from either the Mangaung conference or the PGCs.
  • Identities checked again inside the hall prior to registration.
  • Once secured, delegate tags handed over.
  • All delegates sign for their tags.

The Mail & Guardian spotted no incidents except for two delegations from Sedibeng and Ekurhuleni who arrived without their identity documents. They were taken back home to fetch their IDs.