New Age2.png ANC Change Proposals in a Nutshell The New Age, Johannesburg, 13 March 2017 Declining support at the polls and rampant internal power struggles has forced the ANC to take radical action to assert itself as the country's premier movement for transformation. In its draft policy document titled Organisational renewal and organisational design, the party acknowledges that following the 1994 sections, the party became pre-occupied with the State at the expense of consolidating its own organisational gains. In a bid to reverse the current decline, the party is proposing far reaching changes for debate among its branches and finalisation at its upcoming policy conference in June. In articulating the need for radical renewal, the proposals for changes are still underpinned by the party's insistence to retain its dual identity of a liberation movement and a political party. Pillars for change According to the policy proposal, rebuilding the ruling party will be based on the following pillars: . An analysis of the character of the ANC; . A review of its structures; . Designing the type and quality of its cadres . The implementation of a minimum programme or recovery plan. Given the current internal turmoil within the party and a consistently held view that the role of the branches are undermined in the decision-making processes, the party's branches will debate a number of proposals on to its role, the size of the National Executive Committee (NEC), the Provincial Executive Committees (PECs), elections and organisational processes, deployment of cadres, the roles and functions of the Leagues, organisational leadership and the creation of a sustainable information technology infrastructure. Branches The ANC is clear that while its branches remain the heartbeat of the organisations, their roles and functions have to be modernised to adapt to the changing political conditions confronting it as the ruling party. On the role of the branches, one of the proposals is that the evaluation of branches has to shift from the number of new members recruited to its ability to engage in qualitative political and ideological work that will attract new activists. Another area of change is the alignment of branches to the demarcation of provincial boundaries to extract maximum penetration. Delegates to the policy conference are also asked to resolve the ongoing rural versus urban dilemma confronting the existing branch set-up. NEC The ANC acknowledges the ineffectiveness of the NEC in providing strategic political direction. Consequently, the policy conference will debate a proposal on the reduction of the size of the NEC and the PECs. Underpinning this proposal is the need for a more effective and consistent deployment of NEC members to provinces. The impact of ANC cadres to government structures on the organisational effectiveness and capacity of the party is also up for debate. On the issue of deployment, the party has proposed that a greater focus be on enhancing capacity in its national and provincial headquarters. Another proposal is the maximum deployment of 65% of NEC members to the national Cabinet. The role of the NEC sub-committees are also to be revisited in order to enhance the operations of the ANC. Elections The proposal on this contentious issue is largely driven by an acknowledgement that the elimination of factions is the key towards dealing with internal strife. The organisation is calling for a comprehensive review of current processes including the timing of audits and tight timelines for branch general meetings, regional, provincial and national conferences and the list processes for local and national elections. According to the document, the ANC's political and ideological work is compromised by a preoccupation with the mobilisation for the above events and is a major lever for the manipulation of branches processes ahead of elections. The ANC is calling the implementation of a previous resolution on the establishment of Revolutionary Electoral Commission. The police conference will also consider a proposal to review the current electoral processes in order to allow open contestation and open engagement between membership and candidates. Cadre deployment The key areas up for discussion including intellectual, ideological, and ethical training prior to deployment, ongoing monitoring and evaluation, the screening of potential deploys and community participation in the screening process. The Leagues While recognising the importance of its Leagues within the party, The ANC has advocated greater resourcing of its Leagues, in particular the ANCYL, ANCWL and MKMVA, to ensure that its programmes for renewal reconnects the party with the youth, women and former combatants. The party is also expecting its Leagues to play a major role in advancing its social programmes in various areas including education, health and sport. Leadership Community participation in vetting potential leadership candidates will now form the basis of the party finalising its leadership cadre going forward. The party is proposing that its Revolutionary Electoral Commission takes the lead in this process and will work in tandem with the Deployment Committee. The thrust of this approach is to ensure that there is less dependence on votes and a greater focus on the attributes of cadres and societal views. Lobbying and interest groups The ANC acknowledges that while lobbying has been tolerated in the build-up to conferences, the destabilising impact of factionalism linked to lobbying has had a detrimental effect. The party is now proposing the "regularisation" of lobbying activities within the party. The ANC seeks to formalise a transparent process on lobbying and is asking the policy conference to develop a set of guidelines to manage internal lobbying. Policy Fora In recognising the critical role these fora play in enabling it to engage with society on ploy matters, the party is proposing that they be granted constitutional status and are formalised in all structures of the party. Information technology In yet another statement that the penny has finally dropped for the ANC on its need to modernise if the party is to regain its superiority, the party is proposing number of tactics related to the use of technology. It is proposing a one stop portal infrastructure to communicate with its diverse constituencies and membership. A dedicated team will manage such a portal. The portal will also be designed in a manner that will ensure instant processing of membership applications and have an automated SMS system as part of its communication efforts. Technology will be a critical tool to monitor electoral processes. Policy proposals in a nutshell That the ANC election process be reviewed in order allow for open contest and transparency. The ANC must conduct a massive SKILLS AUDIT at all levels among its employees and cadres. A comprehensive training and development programme must be designed to build the intellectual capital of the ANC. That at the level/sphere of the NEC, PECs and RECs, the organisation needs to be populated by strong leadership as a sign of the ideological and political maturity. The discussion on the size and composition of the NEC should include a discussion on ensuring that ANC leaders are found in all sectors of society. The organisation should take a firm decision that NOT more the 65% of NEC Members should serve in the Cabinet and Provincial Legislature. There must be a distinction between the Integrity Committee and the Revolutionary Electoral Commission. The Revolutionary Electoral Commission that must be established post Conference to ensure the screening of cadres and recommending to the Deployment Committee. That the Veterans League should be positioned as a Council of elders whose pre-occupation is to provide advice and counsel to the structures and leadership of the ANC. The veterans should not contest leadership positions within the ANC. That the ANC must consider the reviewing the current branch system and allow for the establishment of branches or constitutionally recognised units at institutions of higher learning and training, work place and gated communities. Allowance be made for another form of branches namely "sectoral or institutional branches". Provinces must focus on the centres of power and all the motive forces. It is recommended that the NEC policy sub-committees be linked to the policy institute as a feeder. NEC policy sub-committees and other sub-committees must serve as interface nodes of the organization with broader public. That the executives of the ANC at all levels from branch to province, must be structured in accordance with their responsibility to intervene and provide leadership to all centres of power. That the implementation of an electronic membership management system be fast-tracked. That a policy on how the ANC relates to social media and related aspects of be developed by our communication cadres for approval at the Conference. It is proposed that the Political Education Schools and support to cadres for intellectual development. From: http://tnaepaper.co.za/DRIVE/main%20edition/13032017/epaperpdf/16.pdf __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 15079 (20170313) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. 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