The ANC was set to have a frank discussion at the party’s national general council in September about the role that money plays in electing leaders to ANC positions, secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Saturday.
Mantashe spoke to reporters after the party’s meeting of the national executive committee where discussions about the general council took centre stage.
A discussion document, entitled Leadership Renewal was expected to be released next week and it would take stock of the organisation’s way of electing leaders to strategic positions at national, provincial and municipal level.
The document would be an amended version of the famous document entitled Through the Eye of the Needle, authored by former government policy chief Joel Netshitenzhe before the party conference in Stellenbosch in 2002. In the document, which was adopted as an official document, the party bemoaned the tendency of leadership nominations to be reduced to ‘mechanical deal-making” instead of there being proper discussion on the qualities of the nominees.
Bad revolutionary taste
Mantashe on Saturday said the amended document would look at the issue of lobbying for one’s own political ambitions, formerly taboo in the party.
Said Through the Eye of the Needle: “It is a matter of profound cultural practice within the ANC that individuals do not promote or canvass for themselves. Historically, this has justifiably been frowned upon as being in bad revolutionary taste. One of the main reasons for this is that when cadres of the movement do their work, this is not meant to be with an eye on leadership positions or some other personal reward; but to serve the people.”
Netshitenzhe told the M&G on Saturday that although the document “became operative” in the party — meaning that it is used as a reference document when leadership issues were discussed — little has been done to come up with concrete rules to deal with the issues contained in the document.
Cash flow
Another example of the lack of action by the ANC to deal with the dynamics of finances in the party is the lack of progress regarding a Polokwane resolution which suggested that a members’ register of interests, such as one used for government officials and public representatives, be drawn up for ANC leaders. Two years after the Polokwane conference such a register still does not exist.
On Saturday Mantashe said that the use of money in lobbying was a source of concern that would be discussed.
“We want to look at the impact of money on conferences. There was a lot of what we in Gauteng call ‘cash flow’ in elections,” he said, referring to election campaigns for provincial and regional conferences of the ANC.
It is known that some leaders use cash, promises of government tenders, jobs, food parcels and cellphone airtime to convince conference delegates to vote for them or their proxies.
Mantashe confirmed that nationalisation of the mines would be discussed at the general council but emphasised that nationalisation would be part of the discussion on economic transformation and would not be a “standalone debate”.