 Statement of the ANC
NEC Lekgotla
18 January 2010
The ANC NEC met on
Friday, 15 January 2010 and was followed by NEC Lekgotla from Saturday
until Sunday, 16-17 January 2010 at Esselen Park in Ekurhuleni.
The primary purpose of
the NEC Lekgotla was to chart the way forward and develop a programme
of action for 2010, informed by the NEC January 8 Statement and the
2009 Election Manifesto.
The Lekgotla was
attended by NEC members as well as the deployed cadres and senior
public servants whose task is to ensure the effective implementation of
our 2009 elections manifesto and mandate.
The Lekgotla reflected
on how far the ANC has come in implementing the 2009 Elections
Manifesto. The NEC January 8 Statement provided the line of march and
its theme, Working together to speed up effective service to the people
guided the drafting of the programme of action for 2010 in order to
ensure that the ANC remain responsive, caring and effective in its
interaction with the people it serves.
The Lekgotla had 5
Commissions, namely:
The Lekgotla resolved
as follows under the theme organisation building and campaigns;
The ANC will have a
national driven programme focusing on raising the quality of branch
activism around community work. The programme will enhance the capacity
of branches to do community profiles and initiate campaigns and
development projects in response to community needs.
The focus of such a
national driven programme would be the following:
In addition to a
national driven campaign each branch will identify a specific campaign
or issue that it wants to successfully resolve. This will help to build
the confidence of our members and community in their ability to solve
problems and to shape their own destiny.
This must enable ANC
members to dynamically engage with communities including such
initiatives such as know your neighbourhood and continuous door-to-
door work around our programmes. This should help us to reach the stage
where the majority of our members are development activists and
problems solvers in their communities.
All ANC structures
particularly our branches will in this year of action to strengthen the
effective service to our people engage in the following campaigns in
line with our manifesto and our NEC January 8 Statement:
We will also engage on
the cadre development programme which will focus on training all our
structures at all levels in organisational skills, develop a basic 6
months political education programme focusing on ANC history, role,
core values and culture, as well as the role of the alliance within the
current phase of our struggle.
We will also run a
compulsory cadre development course for all our leadership collective,
this will include introducing the ABC of Congress Leadership focusing
on the role of leadership and cadres, values and conduct of ANC and
Alliance leaders.
We will also in this
2010 period starting this month commission a new ANC membership system
that will ensure that every member in good standing get a card in
reasonable time, enhance the integrity of our membership system
preventing gate keeping and fraud, including facilitating the auditing
of membership.
We will also
facilitate the successful launch of one million members campaign in due
course.
The membership system
will be institutionalised in a Membership Manual which contains the
constitutional requirement of membership, our approach to recruitment
and induction of new members as well as the role of members as an agent
for change.
ALLIANCE
The Lekgotla the
reaffirmed the position of the NEC January 8 Statement that the ANC as
the leader of the alliance and strategic centre of power must take
responsibility for providing political direction to the alliance and
through continuous engagement on the best way to resolve the problems
we face as we transform our society.
The NEC will initiate
a broad discussion on history, role and current tasks of the alliance
and its constituent parts as a matter of urgency.
We must manage the
contradictions inherent to the alliance in a manner that build the
unity of purpose, understanding of distinct roles and programmes of
each component.
We must also conduct
ourselves in a manner befitting revolutionaries, respect each other’s
organisational integrity, enforce discipline, avoid public spats and
labeling, and resolve problems within bilateral and other alliance
forums.
Through the joint
programme of action, we will engage our members in action and political
education so that we enhance and build collective cadreship of the
alliance and pay special attention to branch, regional and provincial
alliance structures.
The issues that arouse
at the Special Conference of the South African Communist Party last
year, in relation to the ANC delegation to the conference, will be
finalized at a bilateral with the SACP after receipt and processing of
the report from the ANC delegation that attended the conference.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
On local government
the Lekgotla agreed on the 10 point plan turn around strategy to make
our municipalities to be the vehicles of effective service delivery to
our people. In this regard a further articulation of the turn around
strategy within the ANC and its Alliance partners will be addressed in
the summits to be convened in April this year.
The Lekgotla also
agreed with the NEC January 8 articulation that it is not in the
interest of service delivery for those who hold political office in
organisations to also serve as administrators in local government.
POLITICAL MANAGEMENT
OF GOVERNMENT
The Lekgotla agreed
that the ANC, as opposed to government, also needs to come up with a
mechanism to monitor and review the performance of its cadres deployed
in government.
STRENGTHENING
IMPLEMENTATION OF ANC PROGRAMMES AND PRIORITIES AS CONTAINED IN
POLOKWANE RESOLUTIONS, 2009 MANIFESTO AND 2010 NEC JANUARY 8 STATEMENT
The Lekgotla has come
up with a practical implementable programme and outcome that we expect
from our government in the implementation of the 5 priorities that
emanate from our manifesto and NEC January 8 Statement.
We are confident that
the outcome of the Lekgotla in this regard will be able to guide the
Cabinet Lekgotla as well as the president of the republic of South
Africa in his state of the nation address.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Our work around
international relations will centre around 6 pillars, namely:
The NEC Lekgotla
conveyed its deepest condolences to the people of Haiti and its
government during these trying times. The extent of human loss and
physical destruction is unprecedented and called on all of humanity to
lend a helping hand.
The ANC commends those
within our country who have started to act to save as many lives as
possible. The ANC calls on all South Africans to express solidarity
with the people of Haiti in whatever manner possible. In particular the
NEC calls on all its structures and members to actively take part in
this national effort. All assistance should be channeled through
government coordinated National Disaster Centre.
CONCLUSION
We come out of
Lekgotla extremely confident that the ANC has a concrete and practical
programme to lead society in implementing the mandate it was given by
the people of South Africa in 2009 general elections.
In the words of ANC
President, Comrade Jacob Zuma, “2010 is the year of action for
effective service delivery to our people and there will be no room for
cynicism, laziness, lamenting and incompetence.
We want our people to
feel and see the difference in the manner in which we deliver services.
We must truly change the way government works.
We will heighten our
engagement and interaction with communities, to listen to them, but
also to monitor how government is delivering services.”
Our deployed cadres
must give concrete _expression_ to our 2010 theme, “WORKING TOGETHER TO
SPEED UP EFFECTIVE SERVICE DELIVERY TO THE PEOPLE.”
Issued by Gwede
Mantashe
ANC Secretary General
African National
Congress
54 Sauer Street
Johannesburg
2001
Enquiries: Jackson
Mthembu 082 370 8401; Ishmael Mnisi 082 333 5550
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