Mantashe discusses Integrity Commission at ANC’s NGC

Speaking at a presidential gala dinner at the Gallagher Convention Centre on the eve of the National General Council (NGC), Zuma asked the business fraternity to dig deep in their pockets and donate to the ANC.

Zuma reiterated the power of ordinary ANC members across the country, saying: “Leadership doesn’t have the final authority but branches have the power”. This is despite recommendations by the integrity commission that the accused relinquish their positions. “It is the self-centered cadres of the movement that makes our structures to weaken the duty to serve”, he said. “Also, the implications are that the movement is not keeping abreast with urbanisation and the urban voters”, he said in the report.

The party bemoaned its declining membership, with President Jacob Zuma earlier blaming “tendencies such as gate-keeping, bulk buying of votes, and manipulation”, especially at branch levels.

The ANC’s biggest concern with this trend is that “our voters have experienced voting for parties other than the ANC, which increases their appetite to do so in the future”.

The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) has been making in-roads with middle-class urban blacks in Johannesburg and Pretoria despite a reputation as the party of white privilege, winning 22% of the vote in last year’s general election.

The ANC will not be “dictated to by the U.S.” on this matter, Mantashe said.

The ANC won the 2014 national elections with a 62% majority, a hefty majority but a decline from more than 65% in the previous election.

He, however, said ending factionalism would not be easy because it is “a political problem, not a natural science problem”.

“One of the complaints raised by our people is the impression of lack of discipline within the organisation and that people do as they please and undermine the authority of the ANC with impunity”, said Zuma. The organisation must have the capacity to absorb the pain.

On Saturday, ANC delegates will break into commissions to debate ways to improve and strengthen the organisation during the party’s three-day gathering that ends on Sunday.

Mmanaledi Mataboge is the Mail & Guardian’s political editor.

The Mail & Guardian reported in May that even members of the National Executive Committee were not taking the commission seriously.