Reflecting on the ANC Policy Conference

5 July 2017

As the ANC Youth League we Congratulate the ANC for hosting a successful policy conference here in the past 6 days. The National Policy Conference is an important organisational platform to develop a broad consensus on policy matters amongst structures and members of the ANC. The Policy Conference is a battle of ideas and a contest of ideological persuasions towards a common ground that must inform our policy approach in transforming the South African realities. 

Even though the policy conference was a resounding success, we would not be honest to society, if we do not express the sincere concern of the youth on the state of the ANC and its future. We are of the firm view that if the old guard at the helm of the organisation do not change their attitudes and the manner in which they conduct themselves, they will go down as a generation which liquidated the ANC and took the precious legacy of President Oliver Tambo into the dustbins of history.

The ANC Youth League has held true to its role of being a body of opinion within the ANC. We came to this Policy Conference with the objective of representing the interests of young people across the country. We vigorously campaigned for our views and were able to convince the rest of the delegates in some strategic issues that must be considered as we go to the 54th National Conference in December. Among other things,

We welcome the recognition in our Strategy and Tactics of White Monopoly Capital as an idea that must still be extensively discussed by Structures of the ANC. Our approach to this conference was that the ANC needs to firmly identify the form and content of the strategic obstacles to the success of the National Democratic Revolution. We will continue to canvass the view that the National Conference must officially adopt the proposition that White Monopoly Capital must be characterised as the strategic enemy of the revolution.

We also succeeded to  win the appreciation of youth as an important stratum to advance the NDR and the admission that if young people are not properly nurtured, the organisation and the country will be setting up a future catastrophe for itself. We will continue to insist that young people must constitute 40% of the overall leadership of each structure of the ANC, including the National Executive Committee. The Policy Conference agreed that the debate on the 40% representation of young people in all sites of power must continue and must now reach branches for discussion to national conference.

We welcome the overwhelming acceptance of our recommendation for a Second Deputy Secretary General, the consideration of reducing the overall number of the NEC and the increase in the number of full-time NEC members. Our view remains that we must improve the political capacity of the ANC at Luthuli House so that it has the ability to effectively direct the policy processes of the State. The ANC as the governing party must avoid a situation where it gets directions from government bureaucrats instead the movement must direct government. 

We also appreciate and welcome the important recommendations that have come out of discussion in Economic Transformation. We welcome the view of expropriation of land without compensation as a recommendation to the National Conference. We also welcome the characterisation of monopoly capital as white and the strategic role of that the state must play in dismantling it. Our view on the nationalisation of the reserve bank and the expansion of its mandate beyond inflation targeting were received positively and are among the key recommendations to the National Conference.

The policy conference also agreed on the need to speed up of the establishment of the state owned bank. We are going to campaign vigorously for this policy and we will ensure that the National Conference comes out with a firm implementation roadmap. One of the important discussions for economic transformation was around the introduction of beneficiation Quotas and concessional-pricing on Materials that are currently used for for export. We have always believed that South Africa loses a lot of its industrial potential because of the export of all raw materials. The idea that South African manufacturers must buy our raw materials from mining companies at global prices has been correctly rejected. 

As the ANC Youth League we have been objecting to the requirement of experience for enter level jobs. The ANC National Policy Conference has overwhelmingly accepted the recommendation for the removal experience as a requirement for entry level jobs. 

We welcome the issue of the implementation of Free Education by 2018. We will continue to jealously guard this resolution and ensure that the Department of Higher Education does not undermine the ANC and its policy positions.

The National Policy Conference importantly agreed on the provision of free sanitary pads for girl children in working class and needy communities. This is an important attitude and approach towards preserving the dignity of girl children.

The ANC remains committed to its historical mission of the liberation of Africans and Blacks in particular from the bondages of White rule. The ANC Youth League prides itself on the work it has done to influence the ANC. We have always held the view that the ANC will cleanse itself. We remain confident that even our forebears would be excited on the posture that the liberation movement is taking as a result of the influence of the ANC Youth League.

Issued by Mlondi Mkhize, National Spokesperson, ANCYL, 5 July 2017