11 September 2007
On 16 December this year, the 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress will open at the University of Limpopo in Polokwane.
This will be the last ANC National Conference before the Centenary of our movement in 2012. It must therefore make a critically important contribution to our ability to realise our historic mission.
The 52nd National Conference will therefore have to produce outcomes that further empower the ANC to act in unity and determination to accelerate our advance towards the creation of a caring society, to achieve the objective for which our movement was founded - to unite all South Africans in struggle for the complete liberation of all our people from all forms of oppression and discrimination.
Accordingly, and as guided by our Constitution and traditions, the principle tasks of this 52nd National Conference are to:
These are the tasks to which all ANC members and structures should dedicate their efforts over the next three months, as we prepare to go to Limpopo.
While all these tasks are important to the future of our movement, the trajectory of our struggle, and the future of our country, constituting an integrated whole, some in our movement, our country and the rest of the world have given disproportionate attention to the last of these tasks, the election of our national leadership, the National Executive Committee.
This has expressed itself in a virtually hysterical attention to the so-called leadership succession. This is reflected in the numerous articles in the national and international media published almost daily. Certainly, more will appear in the period up to and beyond our 52nd National Conference.
Those showing this interest range from our allies and friends, to opponents and critics of our movement. There are some who wish the organisation well, for whom the question of the leadership of the ANC is an important issue.
Yet there are others who seek to divide the ANC, who are determined that the matter of the leadership of our movement as we advance towards our Centenary, should be the predominant if not the sole preoccupation of our membership and our 52nd National Conference.
In this regard, various views have been advanced. One of these is that our movement is preoccupied about the issue of "leadership succession" because of a struggle for power among individuals who want to use this power for purposes that have nothing to do with the promotion of the agenda of the NDR.
Another is that various identified individuals within our leadership represent conflicting views and perspectives, necessitating a struggle for positions among these. This is done to divide and weaken our movement, which is the centrepiece of a strategy focused on the defeat of the NDR.
The force, persistence and extent of this campaign prompted our National Executive Committee, at its meeting of 7-8 September 2007, to dedicate time to discuss what has become known in the public arena as the "leadership succession question".
Our National Executive Committee resolved to draw the attention of all members of the ANC, and indeed our country as a whole, to the critically important fact that our movement, now 95 years old, was established with the sole purpose to serve the people, and no other.
Accordingly, the focus of the 52nd National Conference must and will be adoption of the policy and programmatic decisions targeted at what the ANC should do in the five years leading to our Centenary, informed by the central, strategic objective to serve the people of South Africa.
Necessarily, therefore, all our preparations towards the 52nd National Conference at all levels, from our branches upwards, must ensure that our entire movement and all delegates to the National Conference contribute to a united and successful outcome in this regard, conscious of the noble and historic responsibility of the ANC to the masses of our people, our Continent and the rest of the world.
The NEC further decided to send this communication to ANC members to assist structures to distinguish between, on one hand, the intensive campaign to elevate the 'succession debate', particularly as it relates to the ANC Presidency, above all other matters, and, on the other, the proper, necessary and important processes that must happen within ANC structures to nominate and ultimately elect members of the NEC.
The NEC did so unanimous in the view that the ANC should both reclaim the debate about who its leaders should be and refuse to be diverted from its tasks.
Our movement has agreed procedures for the nomination and election of members of the NEC. These are well known to all members, having evolved through the long-standing democratic practices and traditions of the movement.
The last NEC meeting correctly advised our members to begin discussing the matter of the election of our leadership. From the beginning of October, branches will begin convening general meetings of all members to make formal nominations for positions on the NEC.
This process should proceed without let or hindrance, within the set parameters and according to the discipline that has long characterised the internal life of our organisation.
The discussions on these matters within our structures should necessarily be vigorous and thorough. They should be based on a clear political understanding of the tasks and challenges facing the movement, the responsibilities and requirements of leadership, and the identification of the comrades most capable of undertaking these leadership responsibilities.
In this regard, branches should make extensive use of the document, "Through the Eye of a Needle - Choosing the Best Cadres to Lead Transformation", which describes some of the challenges the organisation faces when electing leaders in the current phase, and some of the requirements of leadership in undertaking the task of fundamental political, social and economic transformation.
As it embarks on these discussions, branches should be very clear about:
In the context of everything that has been said and written about the leadership of the ANC, it is necessary that we reiterate some important positions:
As we progress towards the 52nd National Conference, we must expect that our members will be subjected to an intense and sustained media barrage and other interventions to divert them from their real revolutionary tasks.
This emphasises the critical importance for cadres at all levels to carry out political work in all structures to strengthen our unity and reinforce the commitment of our movement to the masses of our people and our revolutionary tasks.
It also emphasises the imperative that, indeed, all those we elect in December serve to advance and entrench the revolutionary values that have long been the defining feature of our movement.
Ekurhuleni
11 September 2007