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/ 23 December 2007

Umshini Wami echoes through SA

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>Some call it brainless, others inappropriate in the post-apartheid era but Jacob Zuma, the new leader of the African National Congress, is in no mood to stop singing his signature <i>Umshini Wami</i>. "If you erase the songs, you erase the record of history," said Zuma of the anthem.

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/ 20 December 2007

Shake-up in ANC national executive

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>The African National Congress’s (ANC) new, 80-member national executive committee was announced at the end of the party’s 52nd national conference in Polokwane at midnight on Thursday evening. Topping the list with 2 845 votes (out of 3 605 votes cast) was Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

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/ 20 December 2007

Zuma on Zim, Mbeki and corruption

”Imminent” corruption charges against newly elected African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma, Zimbabwe and the death penalty were all issues that featured prominently in a press briefing on Thursday following Zuma’s closing address to the party’s 52nd national conference in Polokwane.

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/ 20 December 2007

Zuma: ‘There is only one ANC’

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>"We cannot have a Zuma camp or a Mbeki camp; there is only one ANC. None among us is above the organisation or bigger than the ANC," said new African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma on Thursday as the party’s 52nd national conference in Polokwane came to an end.

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/ 20 December 2007

ANC takes strong position on skills development

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>A vision to link social grant users with access to the economy appears one of the "stronger resolutions" emanating from the ANC’s social transformation commissions. Vusi Madonsela, director general of the Department of Social Development, said that one of the two commissions had deliberated on the issue of ensuring that people did not become dependent on social grants.

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/ 19 December 2007

ANC gets down to brass tacks

The African National Congress’s 52nd national conference got down on Wednesday to the nitty-gritty work of the commission that discusses the party’s policies in an atmosphere that one delegate described as the ”cessation of hostilities” over its new president Jacob Zuma.

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/ 19 December 2007

Gender parity plan in trouble

An attempt to get the principle of gender parity elevated to the top structures of the ANC was trounced on Monday night, the Mail & Guardian has learned.
The policy, also known as the 50/50 principle, is a steep change in empowerment in the ANC and requires that every alternative position available for leadership be reserved for a female candidate.

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/ 19 December 2007

Mbeki faces lame-duck term

Jacob Zuma, the populist politician, humiliated President Thabo Mbeki with a sweeping victory in the election for leader of the African National Congress on Tuesday night. Zuma, who survived a rape trial and his dismissal as the country’s deputy president by Mbeki over corruption allegations, took 60% of the nearly 4 000 votes at the party’s national conference.

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/ 18 December 2007

ANC policy won’t change, says Kgalema

ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe has reiterated that policy would not change under a Zuma-led presidency and fears that the left tripartite alliance partners would force change were unfounded. Motlanthe said spontaneous policy change was not possible given the specific processes the ANC follow in formulating and adopting its policies.

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/ 18 December 2007

Oh, my aching feet of clay …

Sanele ”Shanee” Moroka was a girl trapped in a boy’s body with feet trapped in too tight pumps in the voting queue in Polokwane. She doesn’t believe the ANC should remain a multi-class organisation and is wondering what will happen to her poor calloused palms after having tugged the comrades ”forward towards enlightenment”.

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/ 18 December 2007

ANC apologises for media-bashing

The ANC has apologised for the ”unfortunate” way in which members of the media have been treated at its national conference in Polokwane. The apology followed three days of stand-offs between journalists and security marshals — and a Cabinet minister swiping at a reporter with his umbrella on Tuesday.

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/ 18 December 2007

ANC: Zuma issue ‘difficult to deal with’

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>Money, members, veterans and Jacob Zuma: at a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon at the African National Congress’s (ANC) national conference in Polokwane, secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe discussed his organisational report, delivered two days before, as well as several other issues concerning the ruling party.

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/ 18 December 2007

ANC delegates have voracious appetites

With 1,5 tonnes of meat and 3 500 litres of ice cream consumed daily at the African National Congress’s conference in Limpopo, it came as no surprise that provisions had to be ”imported”. There was not enough meat in Polokwane, so it had to be shipped in from Johannesburg and kept in cold storage near the venue.

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/ 18 December 2007

ANC voting: ‘So far, so good’

A third day of cool, rainy weather in Polokwane did little to quench the fiery support for the front-runners in the ANC presidential race: Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. Voting for the party’s top six officials started later than the scheduled time of 6am on Tuesday morning due to computer-related delays.

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/ 18 December 2007

Who is the ANC?

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>Membership of the African National Congress has grown to 620 000 members from 416 000 members in 2002. A national conference, the most powerful gathering of the party, is a perfect opportunity to assess who makes up the ANC. Who is the typical ANC member and what do they believe in?

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/ 18 December 2007

Media barred from ANC sessions

Heavy early-morning rain on Monday did nothing to dampen the spirits of supporters of the frontrunners in the ANC leadership race, but journalists were left high and dry while trying to attend proceedings and even had equipment broken by security marshals later in the day.

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/ 18 December 2007

Mbeki team fights back

President Thabo Mbeki’s team fought back after a first day of humiliation at the ANC’s 52nd national conference at Polokwane, holding an unprecedented rally at lunchtime. Jacob Zuma’s people responded with an even bigger rally. The Mbeki rally was part of a package of measures to turn back the voting gains of deputy president Jacob Zuma, who is set to take the top job.

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/ 17 December 2007

Sexwale steps out of ANC race

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>African National Congress (ANC) heavyweight Tokyo Sexwale on Monday night declined his nomination to the position of national chairperson as the names of those in the running for the ruling party’s top six positions were announced. As predicted, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma go head to head in the contest for party president.

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/ 17 December 2007

Justice Minister mum on Selebi

Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Brigitte Mabandla on Monday declined to be drawn on the National Prosecution Authority’s (NPA) probe into police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi. ”No comment. I do not talk about those things,” she told a South African Press Association reporter.

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/ 17 December 2007

Zuma, Mbeki camps rally in Polokwane

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>President Thabo Mbeki’s team fought back after a first day of humiliation at the African National Congress’s (ANC) 52nd national conference at Polokwane, holding an unprecedented rally at lunchtime on Monday. Jacob Zuma’s people responded with an even bigger rally.