NATIONAL LIST CONFERENCE

Issued by African National Congress

19 November 2003

The African National Congress is holding its National List Conference to select candidates for the 2004 national and provincial elections from 21-22 November in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng.

The conference is the culmination of an extensive process which began in over 2,000 ANC branches across the country in July 2003.

The selection of ANC candidates for Parliament and the nine provincial legislatures is unique among political parties in South Africa in its extent, intensity and thoroughness. It is designed to produce candidates who, collectively and individually, demonstrate a high level of experience, integrity, capacity and commitment to serving all the people of this country. We expect that this process will once more produce a group of candidates who represent and reflect the diversity and richness of the South African people.

The ANC list process, which was set out by the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) in May 2003, combines democratic process and transparency while allowing for strategic political intervention to ensure the final list of candidates is representative, capable and able to respond to the challenges of governance.

The National List Conference will consider a draft ordered list prepared by the ANC National List Committee based on the outcomes of the Provincial List Conferences held last month.

Following the National List Conference, there will a period for objections and appeals by ANC structures. After these appeals have been considered, the NEC will meet in mid-December to adopt the final list. This will then be made public at the appropriate time.

The National List Conference will take the form of an extended NEC meeting, with representation from the ANC Women's League and Youth League, provinces, regions and Alliance partners.

More information: Steyn Speed 082 572 7304

NOTE TO MEDIA: The National List Conference will not be open to the media. The provisional final lists will be made available once they have been distributed to ANC structures.

BACKGROUND NOTES ON THE ANC LIST PROCESS

The ANC list process is guided by the List Process Guidelines adopted by the National Executive Committee at its meeting of 22-24 May 2003.

LISTS

The process will result in three different categories of lists:

• National Assembly: 200 candidates from the national-to-national list
• National Assembly: 200 candidates from the nine provincial-to-national lists
• Provincial Legislatures: candidates from the nine provincial-to-provincial lists

CRITERIA

The list process is an ANC process, and all candidates stand as ANC members. There are no reserved seats for any organisation within or outside the alliance.

Candidates should be ANC members of good sjmocratic movement, and have:

• experience or expertise that will enable them to make a constructive contribution in the relevant legislature;
• no criminal record (this excludes political-related crimes committed before April 1994);
• no history of ill discipline or corruption;
• no history of involvement in fostering divisions and conflict;
• no other breaches of the ANC code of conduct.

The overall lists should meet the following criteria, in line with our overall deployment strategy and priorities:

• Geographical representivity;
• High representation of women, in line with Rule 6 of the ANC Constitution. This means that at least every third name throughout the list must be a woman.
• Fair representation of sitting MPs and MPLs to ensure continuity and experience.
• Reflect the composition of South African society.
• Reflect the movement character of the ANC, including considering ANC members serving in COSATU, the SACP, SANCO, and MDM structures.
• Good mix of youth and age, as well as people with disabilities or who are differently-abled.
• Adequate number and spread of skilled and experienced cadres to deal with the challenges of government especially in technical areas like finance and economic development.
• Candidates must be available only for parliamentary, party and constituency work and must be prepared to give up all other jobs.

BRANCH NOMINATIONS

Every ANC branch is entitled to make nominations to the national and provincial lists. These nominations need to be conducted in properly constituted ANC branch general meetings, as provided for in the ANC Constitution.

The branch nominations process began in July and was conclude in September.

All branch nominations were submitted to the Provincial List Committees, which produced consolidated nominations lists. To qualify to appear on the consolidated list, a nominee had to have been nominated by a minimum of five branches.

PROVINCIAL LIST CONFERENCES

Each province held a list conference, to which each branch sent delegates. These list conferences, which were held on the last two weekends of October, voted on each of the consolidated nominations lists.

The Provincial List Committees were then responsible for ordering the lists, based on the outcomes of the Provincial List Conferences and the criteria contained in the guidelines. These lists were then submitted to the National List Committee.

NATIONAL LIST COMMITTEE

The National List Committee (NLC) has been engaged in the process of screening all the lists to ensure that both individual nominees and the lists meet the criteria set out in the guidelines. On the basis of this process, the committee will compile a draft ordered national-to-national list based on provincial nominations and the criteria.

NATIONAL LIST CONFERENCE

The procedure at the National List Conference for the national-to-national list:

• The draft national-to-national list shall be distributed to all delegates.
• The NLC will make a short motivation for the draft list and will explain the process followed and the criteria applied.
• Provincial delegations will be allowed time to discuss the list in a caucus meeting.
• Voting will then proceed on each position. The name will be put to the house for approval.
• If any counter-nominations are made, time will be allowed to the nominator to motivate and for the NLC to counter motivate.
• If a counter-motivation prevails, this nomination will be put to the vote in a show of hands. A name may only be substituted if 60% of the house supports the change. The reason for this is that changes to the balanced list should not be lightly made uss sufficient consensus exists.

Each final ordered province-to-national list and the provincial legislature lists from each province will be presented for approval by the National List Conference.

APPEALS AND OBJECTIONS

Following the distribution of the provisional final lists to ANC structures, there will be a period for appeals or objections by ANC structures. The deadline for appeals is 5 December.

An Appeals Committee will consider and finalise any appeals or objections. Based on the findings of the Appeals Committee, the NLC will revise the list.

FINALISATION OF LIST

The revised list will be presented to the NEC for finalisation on 15 December. The final list of ANC candidates for the 2004 elections will be made public at the appropriate moment thereafter.