Zuma sets sights on tackling ANC corruption

Last week, French economist Thomas Piketty proposed an annual, low-rate wealth tax and a minimum wage to start correcting inequality in South Africa. In Mangaung we said comrades should be courageous enough to step aside when they were facing allegations of corruption.

But Mr Zuma went against the norm on Saturday when he told journalists he had no interest in running for ANC president for a third time.

“The recent explosion and suspension of members demonstrates the movement will not hesitate to act against ill-discipline”.

It also deliberated on a stratergy for the upcoming local government elections, saying they will take to the communities, grassroots work the party has done over the years.

The number of signed-up members has fallen to about 769,000 from more than 1 million three years ago, President Jacob Zuma, the ANC’s leader since December 2007, told a party policy forum in Midrand, near Johannesburg on Friday.

In his organisational report, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said the ANC could no longer use the technical argument of saying people should retain their innocence until proven guilty while the party’s name is suffering.

“By the end of it the image of the ANC, rightly or wrongly, has been affected”, he said.

He said majority of the delegates are very articulate in the 2015 NGC.

“Some of the negative tendencies include systematic sowing of divisions”.

The 2005 NGC saw the launch of the rebellion against then-president Thabo Mbeki and the rise of President Jacob Zuma.

The noise coming out of the ANC and a few of the leagues was strongly aligned to the so-called premier league and this click seemed to have the upper hand. This commission is made up of ANC veterans and struggle stalwarts who do not harbour ambitions of holding office.

“The private sector should also subject itself to vetting and lifestyle audits”, said Zuma.

The NGC stressed the need to fight factionalism in the organisation.

He said we (leaders) have not heard any delegate talking about succession debates. ANC head of policy Jeff Radebe said those found guilty of promoting factionalism and the politics of slates would be disciplined.

National Executive Member Nathi Mthethwa said the movement was finding it hard to deal with corruption within its ranks because its integrity committee was not achieving results.

The security cluster and key civil servants should be rotated between departments.