CHARLES MOLELE
THE ANC is facing a crisis that threatens its existence as shown by the declining electoral support for the party as well as falling membership numbers, disunity and factionalism.
This is according to ANC deputy president David Mabuza, who delivered the party’s scathing oganisational report on Saturday.
“We find ourselves at a crossroads, given the objective and subjective realities confronting us at this conjuncture of our history,” Mabuza told delegates.
“Despite the best intentions by all of us, the state of the organisation is still a far cry from the ideal as it is bedevilled by disunity, the quality of membership and cadre not being up to the task, doubts about the capacity to deal with corruption … and restore the movement’s integrity and declining electoral support that points to a deep trust deficit from our people.”
According to Mabuza, the integrity commission has reported that at least 55 members brought the party into disrepute.
Mabuza also said that the suspension of former Secretary-General Ace Magashule has had a critical impact on the functions of the secretary general’s office.
“For the first time in the more than a century-long history of the ANC, it ended the term without its elected Secretary General Officials. This followed the Secretary General Ace Magashule being charged with counts of corruption in the Bloemfontein High Court in November 2020, and the Step-Aside Regulations coming into effect, leading to his suspension by the NEC in May 2021.”
Mabuza said that the disbandment of the ANC Youth League, ANC Women’s League and ANC Veterans League was a major cause for concern for the organisation.
He told delegates that the national conference must address the issue of the leagues and ensure that all three leagues are able to hold their national conferences in 2023.
He said delegates should also be seized with the decline of the party’s electoral support at the polls.
The ANC’s share of the national vote dropped below 50% and voter turnout declined from 56% in both 2011 and 2016 to 46%.
“The loss of support of the ANC, losing majority in only two out of eight metros (Buffalo City in the Eastern Cape and Mangaung in the Free State is significant,” said Mabuza.
He said the ANC lost four out 5 biggest metros, despite getting the highest number of votes due to poor political management and delivery.
“Where the ANC is in outright control, these are mainly the poorer municipalities, many are not financially viable, which has massive impact on our ability to deliver services and local government,” said Mabuza.
“Organising in urban areas is a major challenge for the ANC in all provinces. The bigger the concentration of people, the bigger the challenge, as the election results and membership figures indicate.”
He added that party has lost about 1 500 fulltime public representative seats at local government level.
Mabuza said the introduction of the Political Party Funding Act and the difficult economic environment had also damaged the party’s funds.
“These factors restricted our ability to raise funds from private donors who collectively comprise 70% of our budget annually,” said Mabuza.
He said the failure to pay staff salaries was also a major concern for the party.
“A major liability still remains with regards to arrears on the ANC staff Provident Fund.”
“The cashflow crunch of the ANC not only impacted on staff, but also our ability to fund core programmes, including the OR Tambo School of Leadership and Cadre development, campaigns including Elections campaigns, research, and monitoring and other organisational programmes.”
Membership of the party has also dropped by at least a third in the past two years.
The party has about 1 million members.
The estimate, down from 1.6 million in July 2020, is based on raw data that has to be refined and may end up being lower, the party said.
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