ANC branches nowhere near ready for elective conference

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With only 11 days until the deadline for ANC branches to nominate candidates for the top positions in the party, only a fraction of the party’s 3 979 branches have run successful meetings. 

The branches must also nominate candidates for the national executive committee (NEC), which will be decided at the party’s conference in  December. 

This was announced during  a special NEC meeting on Wednesday afternoon. 

In the presentation seen by the Mail & Guardian, only 772 branches have run successful branch general meetings, with 3 207 still outstanding as of 9 October. Across the country 2 327 branches have convened branch general meetings with 1 555 disqualified. 

According to ANC insiders, provincial chairs and secretaries argued bitterly during the NEC meeting and called for an investigation into why branches were failing to qualify. 

One NEC member who spoke to the M&G said some party leaders argued that the electoral committee headed by former president Kgalema Motlanthe needed to take over the process of running branch general meetings. But this was thwarted by the organising committee and NEC members. 

The insider added that the process had reached a crisis. They said that ANC general manager Fébé Potgieter-Gqubule has been asked to establish a rapid response team to assist branches to understand the system.  

“When the NEC said we must investigate because there is a trend that the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal are targeted by the reduction of their numbers while Limpopo branches are increased there was a push back.”

The insider said there were people who wanted to manipulate the process to sideline the small provinces. 

“Northern Cape is not a factor as long as they manage the province so that 70% that meets the threshold is not met by Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal for them to have an upper hand,” the NEC member said. 

Another NEC member added that there was a call for a full report to be tabled next week at another special meeting. 

“There must be an explanation on where the branches are and why they keep being disqualified. That branches dont quorate is a big problem. Gauteng argued that we must increase the number of manual scanning from 10% to 20% of branches. Some argued that if you do that, that is a recipe for disaster because it opens up manipulation and branches can harvest IDs. The conference is at risk of not sitting. That is why some are saying it must sit within the 70% threshold.” 

More than two years ago, the ANC moved from a manual to a digital system of monitoring branch meetings to do away with gatekeeping and manipulation of processes. 

Another NEC member and provincial leader added that  Limpopo’s Reuben Madadzhe was the only provincial secretary who did not motivate for the process to be investigated. 

“There was also an agreement that secretaries must be reinstated into the system. Initially they had been left out and the system centralised to Luthuli House. Branch secretaries were in the dark on which branches qualified and even if Luthuli House tampers with the system they would not know.”

The presentation showed that Gauteng has had the least number of branch general meetings. Only 105 branches out of the 468 that have qualified to participate in the December conference have run meetings. Of the 105 branches, 29 have qualified and 76 have been disqualified. 

In KwaZulu-Natal, with 835 branches qualified to participate, 563 branches have convened meetings and 571 branches are outstanding. The province had 264 branches run successful meetings and 299 were disqualified. 

According to insiders, fewer than 20 branches qualified to nominate officials in the eThekwini region, the ANC’s largest followed by Vhembe in Limpopo and OR Tambo in the Eastern Cape. 

With the second largest branch participation of 641, the Eastern Cape has run 362 branch general meetings. Of those, 71 qualified and 291 were disqualified, with 570 branches outstanding. 

In Limpopo, 559 branches have qualified to participate in the nomination process with 449 branches convened so far. As of 9 October 134 have qualified and 315 were disqualified. This means that 425 branches are outstanding. 

With 361 branches participating, 201 Mpumalanga branches have run meetings with 91 qualified and 110 branches disqualified, which means 270 branches are outstanding. 

The North West has run 150 branch general meetings of the 342 branches qualified to participate. Only 12 qualified and 138 disqualified, leaving 330 branches outstanding. 

The Free State has convened 143 branch meetings of the 280 qualified to participate. Only 34 have qualified and 109 were disqualified. This means that 246 branches are outstanding. 

Only 14 branches from the Western Cape’s 267 branches allowed to participate in the process have nominated their candidates. Of this, 152 branches had convened branch meetings but 138 were disqualified, leaving 253 outstanding. 

With the lowest delegation of 226 branches, the Northern Cape has convened 178 branch meetings, with 109 successfully nominating their candidates and 69 disqualified. This leaves 117 branches outstanding. 

In a recent memo to provincial and regional secretaries extending the cut-off date for branch general meetings from 2 October to 25 October, acting secretary general Paul Mashatile said branches that were disqualified would be able to rerun their meetings. 

Mashatile said a meeting of the secretariat highlighted a number of problems affecting branch meetings, including load-shedding, industrial action by ANC staff members, a high percentage of newly elected branch secretaries not familiar with the membership system, and the need to upgrade scanner software.

ANC branches have in the past raised concern about the scanner software, the QR codes. The party’s digital system is used to verify a member’s ID and their ANC membership. It also monitors whether branches have a quorum to hold meetings. This system is monitored and run at the ANC’s headquarters at Luthuli House. 

During a special provincial executive committee on Tuesday, Eastern Cape chairperson Oscar Mabuyane said the biggest challenge so far is branch general meetings being delayed, caused mainly by the manner of administering the new system.  

“The centralisation for the issuing of QR codes is proving to be problematic as there is little capacity to handle the work by the head office, which is further compounded by the nonpayment of ANC staff at Luthuli House. The NEC should look into that matter so that branches can complete their nominations in a manner that is not hampered,” he said. 

Many ANC employees have not been paid. They embarked on a go-slow more than three weeks ago. This has affected the system that depends on Luthuli House staff ensuring that branch general meetings are properly convened and reach quorum.