REPORT ON DISCUSSION IN THE ANC NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ON A PRESENTATION BY PRESIDENT THABO MBEKI AND DEPUTY PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA

9 September 2005

PRESENTATION BY PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY PRESIDENT

  1. Current developments in the ANC and the rest of the Alliance regarding the Deputy President of the ANC call for collective and decisive leadership by the National Executive Committee. Urgent steps are required to ensure that the democratic movement as a whole continues to focus on our strategic responsibility of social transformation.

  2. It is understandable that there should be pain within the movement regarding the difficulties faced by our Deputy President. There will also be anger among cadres who hold the perception that the Deputy President is being victimised, as there will be among those who have silently watched events unfold, awaiting the movement's collective wisdom so that they can make disciplined interventions among our members and society at large.

  3. Precisely because of this pain and anger, it is critical that the leadership should rise above the fray and find mature ways of dealing with the challenges. The danger is that, incorrectly handled, the situation can worsen, further dividing and weakening the movement and the forces of fundamental change.

  4. It is on the basis of the aforementioned that as President and Deputy President, and as authorised by the National Working Committee, we have started a process of intensive interactions between ourselves, to develop a practical approach to these issues in a manner that would best serve the interests of the movement and the country as a whole. We will then submit proposals in this regard to the Officials and the NWC, which should then be submitted to the NEC to enable it to have a substantive and constructive discussion of the matters at issue.

  5. In our interactions, we proceed from the premise that the current events present a real danger of steadily but surely eroding public confidence in the ANC, the leading force in the National Democratic Revolution, and the organisational hope of the people of our country for a stable and prosperous society. Without decisive leadership, the current situation lends itself to exploitation by opportunist elements and even counter-revolution. It demoralises all cadres of the movement, and confuses the masses.

  6. Ours is a complex process of social transformation. As the ANC and its Allies, we have acquitted ourselves well in managing this process in pursuit of a better life for all. But we are called upon urgently to address the legacy of our apartheid past, and to manage continuing challenges that attach to being the leading political force in government.

  7. It is critical that our movement builds on the advances that we have made in the First Decade of Freedom, and on the current mood of optimism in society in order to speed up the process of change. Building on the overwhelming success that we attained in the 2004 general election, we need to consolidate our forces for a decisive victory in the coming local government elections. Fundamental change depends to a large measure on how we strengthen the local government sphere. Building on improvements in the economy, it is critical that we mobilise for higher rates of investment, economic growth and job-creation and for a decisive assault on poverty.

  8. In attending to the current difficulties, the ANC holds dear the pertinent basic principles that have guided our approach to the process of social transformation. Critical elements of these principles include:

    1. It is in the profound interest of revolutionary democrats, the motive forces of the revolution and the left in general to respect the rule of law. This includes respect for institutions of state mandated to carry out law enforcement and judicial functions. The ANC and its allies should mobilise society to respect this principle.

    2. We should prevent the abuse of state institutions for personal material gain or personal agendas. This implies that these institutions should themselves respect the rule of law. It is also necessary to pursue the continuing transformation of these institutions within the framework set out in the Constitution.

    3. The ANC and its allies should be at the forefront of the struggle against corruption. This is in the profound interest of the motive forces of the revolution and the masses of our people.

    4. The strength of the ANC over the years has derived, among others, from its principled stand against factionalism as well as ethnic and racial chauvinism, and education of its members to act as the revolutionary glue that binds South Africans in pursuit of a better life.

    5. It is critical that we assert the principle of freedom of speech within the ranks of the movement: for members to feel free in constitutional structures to raise issues that concern them and contribute to the evolution of ideas. This applies also to how leaders relate to members from branch to national level, and how members themselves avoid self-censorship particularly in the context that some may abuse governmental office to dispense patronage.

    6. The ANC should continue its battle against careerism: conduct that has as its starting point the "rewards" of political office, deployment that brings material gain and unhealthy competition for positions. At the same time, our deployment policy should take into account, and encourage acquisition of skills as well as drive and initiative among cadres.

    7. Collective leadership is a central pillar of our organisational principles. This requires a culture of openness among leaders, solidarity and comradeship towards one another, respect for, and acceptance of decisions of the collective, while each individual member of the collective retains the right to raise and re-raise any matter, within constitutional structures, which she/he believes requires review.

    8. In carrying out their tasks, individuals deployed in positions of authority in structures of the movement and in government should be guided by the mandate of the movement's constitutional structures. These structures should themselves in turn appreciate the prerogatives they allocate to individuals they deploy, arising out of the confidence they have in such individuals. While constitutional structures guide, they are not expected to micro-manage the activities of their deployees.

    9. Leaders should always lead by example, as custodians of the values and best practices of the movement. This should apply in good times and bad - ensuring that the interests of the movement come first in everything we do. Especially in difficult times, leaders should be the best examples of principled and disciplined conduct.

  9. Noting the difficulties that the current situation has imposed on the Deputy President, it is a matter of fundamental principle that the ANC should support him in his work as a leader of the ANC, and as a person and comrade facing challenging circumstances. His dignity must at all times be protected. In this, we are informed by the basic principle that the Deputy President is innocent until proven otherwise.

  10. We do appreciate the genuine sense of solidarity among cadres within the movement with the Deputy President. However, we need to be vigilant against unhealthy forces who seek to attach themselves to this campaign. Some of these forces would be driven by opportunism, others by a counter-revolutionary agenda to weaken the ANC and undermine transformation, and yet others by attempts to hide behind the campaign to pursue illegal and corrupt activities. We wish to assert that there is one ANC, and therefore reject the notion that individuals should be required to choose sides, on the basis of the absolutely false assertion that we lead two contending factions within the movement.

  11. In this regard, we call on all members and supporters of the ANC to respect the process that the movement has put in place comprehensively to deal with this matter. We therefore urge, in the strongest terms possible, that no one should use the name of the President or Deputy President to mobilise for or against against either, and for or against any other leader of the movement.

  12. In addressing the challenges that confront us in the current period, we should also keep in mind other critical decisions that the NEC has already adopted, to deal with the broader environment which impacts on cadres and leaders of the movement. These issues include: general guidelines on how the ANC as an organisation, as distinct from government and its technical precepts, views the involvement in business of those in office (in government and fulltime in the ANC), a broader analysis of the global tendency among some elements of business to compromise political organisations, and organisational mechanisms to deal with serious allegations of corruption against senior leaders of the movement. These decisions should be attended to with a sense of urgency.

    13. DECISION OF THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

  13. Having considered and fully accepted the foregoing, including the recommendations made by the President and Deputy President, which were supported by the National Working Committee, the NEC decided to:

    1. endorse the decision of the NWC authorising the President and the Deputy President to make recommendations about how the NEC should engage the substantive discussion of the matter at hand at a specially convened NEC meeting, which will be held as soon as possible;

    2. call on all members of the ANC, including the Youth and Women's Leagues, to respect the fact that the NEC has decided on a process led by the President and the Deputy President, and should therefore not engage in any activity outside this process; and,

    3. also appeal to our Alliance partners themselves to respect this decision and await the outcome of decisions that will be taken by the NEC at its specially convened meeting.

  14. In the meantime:

    1. The proposals contained in this presentation will serve as a basis for briefings to our membership, starting with Regional General Councils which should be held within the next two weeks.

    2. Interactions should continue within the Alliance, to clarify the ANC's position on these matters as contained in this presentation. These interactions should also take on board matters that were canvassed at the recent Alliance 10-aside meeting, including the proposed Commission on the issue of a "political conspiracy".

  15. In the medium-term, the ANC should launch an intensive political education campaign within all our structures, and work with the Youth League, Women's League and Alliance partners to do the same, to address matters such as: social cohesion and the challenge of building a caring society within the context of a social system dominated by the market economy, which encourages materialism and greed; the vision of the movement in the Second Decade of Freedom; and the role of the individual and the masses in history and in the current phase of the NDR.

9 September 2005 Ekurhuleni