ANC NEC MEDIA STATEMENT

The National Executive Committee held its ordinary meeting over two days, 27-28 May 2011. The focus of the meeting was on local government elections, the list process, the campaign itself, the results and the programme moving forward.

From the outset, the NEC commended the IEC for a sterling job of running an almost incident free election.  The NEC also noted with appreciation that South Africans turned out in numbers to go out and vote.

The NEC expressed satisfaction that the process of involving the communities in more than 90% of the branches served the purpose it was meant for. There was commitment on refining it further as it should be an important part of our campaigns in future.

It was accepted that many branches have complained about the manipulation of the process and the NEC accepted that such complaints have to be investigated. The NEC endorsed the team that will investigate allegations of manipulation of the list process. A meeting is scheduled for Monday 30 May 2011 to discuss the terms of reference and the timeframes of the Team.

The NEC is satisfied that the ANC ran a solid campaign. It was agreed that the list process took longer than planned and therefore squeezed some of the election time. The NEC accepted that we should have started a bit earlier.

The commitment, energy and time invested by the election structures, the volunteers of the movement gave us the results. Members of the NEC, PECs and RECs reached all the corners of South Africa and interacted directly with our people. The NEC acknowledged that the biggest resource the ANC has is the network of structures, a branch in every ward. The ANC will continue investing in building and strengthening these structures.

The NEC reaffirmed the determination made by the NWC, that 63,65% of voters who voted for the ANC, do not only have the confidence in the ANC but expect the ANC to step up the programme of transformation of society.

The delivery of basic services to areas that never had access to these services is itself part of transforming society. All the complaints and problems captured in the street sheets during the campaign will be incorporated in the programme moving forward to guide our programmes and plans..

In celebrating the good results the NEC members led by the President, will be deployed to all the regions to thank the people of South Africa for the overwhelming mandate and victory they gave to the ANC. Thank you rallies will be held in all the provinces.

The councillors will be directed to do door-to-door work in their wards on an ongoing basis and hold public meetings after every full council meeting so that communities can be kept informed of all the plans and developments in each council. The ANC will also conduct a formal induction for all councillors.

The July NEC meeting which will be an NEC Lekgotla will, among other things, look into the funding model for local government. it was accepted that the assumption that municipalities must raise 95% of its funding from local rates and taxes is applicable to few municipalities with a sound revenue base.

It was also accepted that the smaller municipalities with no revenue base, mainly rural serve an important purpose and role. Details of such a review will be subject for discussion in the July Lekgotla. Our interventions will also factor in the turn-around strategy of municipalities which was introduced by the President

The NEC was satisfied that all provinces tried hard to appoint at least 50% of mayors who are women. They were commended for ensuring that mayoral committees will reflect this policy of the ANC. The debate about Mayors of Metros being males in the majority of cases will be taken up in future political discussions. It was accepted that it is a political debate that talks to the consciousness of the cadres of our movement.

It was agreed that the gender parity in the structures of our movement is not just a numerical issue but a political one. It was emphasised that provinces must not only deploy women in small municipalities just to comply with the policy.

The Secretariat will meet within the next two weeks to develop a comprehensive programme that is informed by our elections report and the research that has since been conducted.

The NEC also endorsed the ANCYL conference that is schedule to take place next month, preparations for this conference are well under way and NEC will play a supportive role to ensure that it is successful.

With elections behind us, the ANC will now focus its effort in ensuring that the centenary celebration and commemoration of the ANC becomes a resounding success. Already we are overwhelmed with political parties from all over the world wanting to participate in our centenary celebrations.

The ANC also endorsed the African Union intervention in Libya to ensure that the current crisis there is resolved peaceful through negotiations by all parties involved in the conflict.  We also fully support the role that South Africa is playing within the ambit of the AU to bring about a speedy resolution of the Libyan question.  In this context we also join the continent and all peace loving people of the world in condemning the continuing aerial bombardments of Libya by Western forces.

The ANC strongly believes that any people who get to serve in any multilateral structures including the IMF should be based on merit and their expertise to act and not on their skin colour or national origin.

We strongly believe that the time for the developing world to bring a candidate to serve as head of the IMF is more opportune now.  We support the government stance of engaging with the developing countries to build consensus.

Statement issued by Gwede Mantashe, ANC Secretary General, May 29 2011

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