STATEMENT OF THE ANC NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The ANC held its last scheduled NEC meeting for the year, from Friday the 6th to Sunday 8th November 2009, at Esselen Park, Ekurhuleni.
The ANC, SACP and COSATU will today hold bilateral meetings in preparation for the Alliance Summit, to be held on the 13th-15th November 2009.
The ANC believes the unity of the alliance is paramount and sacrosanct. The Alliance is the only entity capable of completing our mission of transforming our country. The ANC as leader of the Alliance, and together with other alliance partners, is ready to make a contribution in further strengthening the alliance through constructive engagement at the summit.
The NEC received a report of the Economic Transformation Committee (ETC) on the National Planning Commission (NPC), energy and challenges in electricity. After interacting with the report for government-wide planning encapsulated in our 52nd national conference resolutions, our 2009 elections manifesto and the last Alliance Summit declaration, the NEC agreed that:
1.There should be a National Planning Commission in government to coordinate and align the work of various government departments;
2 The Commission will be chaired by the Minister responsible for NPC in the presidency;
3. External experts will constitute the NPC; and
4. All proposals of the NPC will be presented to our governance structures including Cabinet, for interaction and endorsement.
The NEC received a report and discussed the state of local government. The NEC noted that local government is an important sphere of government, particularly for delivering service to our people. It also noted that despite challenges at this level of government some municipalities and councillors are doing wonderful work in meeting the needs of our people. It nonetheless cites systematic legislative as well as political factors, to name a few, that contribute to the erosion of confidence of the majority of our people in our municipalities as the primary delivery machine. The NEC agreed that a turnaround strategy is urgently needed to restore the confidence of our people in our municipalities.
The NEC also received a report on the devastation caused by HIV and AIDS in our country. If we don't act now to prevent further infections and do extraordinary work for South Africans to know their status, the death rate will soon be higher than the birth rate. The ANC will intensify its campaign around the epidemic. We also fully endorse the ten-point plan around health which includes the implementation of the NHI, provision of strategic leadership and creation of a social compact for better health and acceleration of the implementation of HIV and AIDS and sexually transmitted infections strategy, 2007-2011, and increase focus on other communicable diseases.
In our interaction with the report on the road map to improve the education system the NEC fully agrees and fully endorses the ten-point plan which includes conducting external tests for all grade three and grade six learners every year. We also agree with the plans of the Minster of Basic Education in realigning our curriculum in order to engender quality learning, improve numeracy and literacy skills of our learners, ease the burden of educators and respond to skills needed in our economy.
The NEC has agreed to hold its 98th anniversary celebrations in 2010 in the Northern Cape. The NEC decided to hold the National General Council (NGC) in 2010 in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. We are also impressed by the work that is being undertaken to celebrate the centenary of the ANC in 2012.
The ANC Veterans League will be launched in December in Gauteng.
We will be sending 20 ANC leaders to China on an educational exchange programme with the Communist Party of China (CPC). This programme arises out of our party-to-party relations with the CPC. Cde Cyril Ramaphosa will lead the delegation.
The global economic crisis has created serious instability on the labour market and the ANC is concerned that, in the immediate future, job opportunities created cannot match the number of jobs lost. However, the responsibility of creating jobs cannot be left to government alone. We, therefore, call upon all parties to the Global Framework Agreement to implement the agreement so as to mitigate the impact of the crisis.
The NEC with all its members, including the President, wishes all citizens a restful and prosperous festive season.
Statement issued by Gwede Mantashe, African National Congress Secretary General, November 9 2009
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