AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS 55TH NATIONAL CONFERENCE RESOLUTIONS
FINANCE: ORGANISATIONAL AND PROGRAMME SUSTAINABILITY
Conference Noted:
1. The progress made in implementing the resolutions of the 54th National Conference on building and resourcing the organisation.
2. The Organisational and the Treasurer Generals Reports presented to the 55th National Conference outlining the state of the organisation, stating amongst others that:
o to remain the leader of society, the ANC must invest in long-term sustainability and modernisation of the ANC.
o the ANC headquarters is making substantial progress in modernising and professionalising the organisation, at the Human Resource and organisational development level, to ensure that those employed deliver on their responsibilities with the correct tools of trade.
o The organisation is now operating in a new resoruces environment as a result of the adopted Political Party Funding Act (PPFA), the impact of Covid-19 and other economic related challenges.
o The subdued economy has had an enormous impact on the earnings and profitability of South African Companies which in turn has negatively impacted fundraising initiatives.
o That despite these challenges, the organisation managed to secure some savings in resourcing the programmes of the organisation, including the payment of salaries, albeit late at times and supporting the elections campaign across the country
- The current organisational structure of the ANC is not fit for purpose at all levels of the organisation, and this includes the administrative and managerial capacity that requires ongoing review and modernisation.
- The current organisational structure and operational expenses are not sustainable wih the current financial standing of the organisation.
- That the heavy relience on donor and private sector funding coupled with the challenges in this regard poses a major risk to the ANC’s financial stability and thereby its indepedence and being able to be the leader of society.
- The ANC has not made progress to increase its revenue base which can be used to support is programmes.
- Concerns raised by the Leagues and some delegates at conference in respect of raising the membership fees to R240-00 per year per member.
- That the ANC remains with historical debts, which is rising, the implications are that what we continue to fundraise goes into the interests and other costs related to historical debt.
- The ANC largely depends on private donations.
- The work done by the Renewal Commission and the ANC Vision 2023 and Roadmap Report presented to the 55th National Conference as the basis to advance the renewal and modernisation programme.
Believing:
- That the ANC is guided by the Freedom Charter and the Constitution of South Africa, and that the State must fund democracy.
- That the State has a responsibility to transform the economy through appropriate policies, legislation and procurement procedures.
- The ANC’s long terms vision is the progressive redistribution of wealth to reduce the vast inequalities between the rich and the poor.
Further believing:
- It is for this reason that big business and the ultra-rich have preferred to fund other parties rather than the ANC and that this situation will not change as long as the ANC has pro-poor policies.
- That some businesses which have funded the ANC have done so for self-serving interests, including expecting that the ANC as the governing party will use state resources in a corrupt manner to build their business interests, rather than to support the pro-poor agenda of the ANC.
- As leader of society, the ANC has responsibility to champion good governance and good financial management.
- Political parties are essential public institutions for the functioning SA democracy as outlined in the Constitution.
- That substantive further work must be done to enhance the draft Renewal Commisison Report presented to the 55th Conference and that the final outcomes of Renewal Action plan will have resource implications
Therefore Resolves:
1. The State must fully fund the activities of all political parties as part of funding democracy, and protecting the independence, transparency, accountabiity and integrity of political parties
2. To accelerate the implementation of the recommendations in the Treasurer’s Report to ensure financial stability, including:
- Directing the NEC of the ANC to increase the ANC Membership Fee as soon as possible to an appropriate amount that reflects commitment of members to sustain the organisation within the overall context of affordability;
- Exploring new investment opportunities;
- Dedicate a Fundraising Team whose sole responsibility will be to raise funds to liquidate the huge debt and liabilities;
- Consolidate ANC Properties under a Trust to enable the ANC to leverage revenue from these assets;
- Utilise ANC property assets to generate additional revenue.
3. To standardise and capacitate all organisations structures, financial systems and practices to be compliant in terms of financial mangement, accounting and reporting standards.
4. To implement the organsiational re-design and modernisation project to ensure that the organisation is fit for purpose, capacitated appropriately and able to respond efficiently to the dynamics of our modern ever-changing contexts. This includes:
- Strenghtening the research-based policy, monitoring, evaluation capacity to support evidence-based decision making.
- Supporting further training and capacity building of staff
- Implementing technology-based, enterprise resource operational and management systems
5. That the NEC must take responsibility for managing the further work required on the Renewal report, supported by a resource team of organisational development, change management and finance specialists.
Issued by the African National Congress, Chief Albert Luthuli House 54 Pixley Seme Street, Johannesburg, 2001.
Produced by the ANC Department of Information and Publicity, 3 March 2023
