ANC SECRETARY GENERAL CDE ACE MAGASHULE UNVEILS THE NEW STATE OF THE ART ANC MEMBERSHIP SYSTEM
Today, the 29th of August 2018 here at the Saint George Hotel in Irene, Tshwane - Gauteng Province, we unveil our new state of the art membership system ahead of the start of our list process to select public representatives for the 2019 provincial and national elections. We are unveiling this modernized membership system through a live demonstration of a typical Branch General Meeting attended by both the Provincial and Regional Secretariat who are delegates to this National Extended Secretariat Forum representing all our 9 Provinces and 53 Regions where the ANC has a foot print.
The 54th ANC National Conference urged the National Executive Committee to urgently implement “a modernised, technologically-enabled membership system that will speed up the delivery of membership cards, allow for electronic membership renewal and discourage gatekeeping.”
Our NEC remains loyal and committed to the realisation of conference resolutions. In this regard and over the past six months we begun with the process to source a credible players with proven track record to develop and roll out a new membership management system. In laying out the process to achieve our intended objectives we outlined a number of principles including but not limited to the following:
- Easing new Member Registrations, Renewals and Terminations
- Membership Fee management, Reconciliation and Fee Distribution
- Members Profile Management (allowing Administrator ACCESS & CONTROL but also direct Member Access)
- Facilitate and speed up MEMBERSHIP CARD printing & distribution.
- Facilitate inter-ANC communications with Members and Structures alike (special notifications & ad-hoc campaign messaging)
- Generating membership STATUS REPORTS for each Branch, Subregion, Region,
- Attendance REGISTERS for BGMS, and other ANC meetings/events
The ANC has appointed service providers to implement, evaluate and assess this end-to-end membership management system solution. The first phase, we are unveiling today, will be linked to the ANC list process. From the beginning of September through to October this year, all ANC branches will have branch general meetings (BGMs), where ANC members in good standing will nominate ANC candidates for national and provincial legislatures.
One of the features of this phase of the new Membership system, is an application for screening and verifying attendance at these BGMs, in terms of the requirements for quorums, and so that all eligible members are able to attend and participate. This is a key measure to prevent gatekeeping, a matter which has plagued the ANC over the last few years.
ANC branch secretaries will provide dates for their BGMs, with adequate notice of at least seven (7) days before the meeting sits. The ANC will also have a National Call Centre for the list process, to assist branches and ANC members, so that the list process is democratic, rigorous, fair and peaceful.
The next phase of the ANC Membership system, which is in the build stage and should be unveiled by October, will allow for the more than a million ANC members to check and renew their membership online, and for other ANC supporters who wishes to join, to also do so online. The new solution will also ensure that all ANC members are able to receive their membership cards on time.
The new Membership Management System is a central pillar of the ANC programme to modernize its key processes, so that it aids the renewal of its values, its services to the people and its unity of purpose to change the country for the better.
We also hope that the new system will further enhance the credibility and integrity of our internal processes; deepen internal democracy and give our current and prospective members honour.
Statement issued by Ace Magashule, ANC Secretary General, 31 August 2018
