The ANC’s midyear review body has come out to “fully support” the makeup of the government of national unity (GNU), which includes the DA, but stressed the party’s “transformation agenda” has not changed. “The ANC NGC said all GNU partners must be committed to the constitution, which reaffirms the need for economic transformation,” the party’s head of political education, David Makhura, said at a media briefing on this Thursday. The ANC believes the DA is being unconstitutional in its legal challenge to BEE and employment equity (EE).
Mukhura acknowledged that, while the ANC still aggressively supports the need for economic redress along racial lines, the government needs to ensure that people appointed, especially in government, are adequately trained for their positions. “On BEE, we say it has not been robust enough. We need a state and economy that functions for the people of South Africa.
Having people in different positions that have not been adequately trained is not acceptable. We cannot deploy a pilot to drive a train; we need to monitor this better,” Makhura said. He also said the ANC NGC understood why there had been a mass stayaway of the party’s voters in recent elections over the issue of corruption.
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“Voter stayaway has not been irrational. We need to fix the way we exercise state power. The ANC NGC said there have been significant economic transformation gains, but black people, women and young people specifically have been excluded.
So, the ANC is not going to retreat,” Makhura said. He further insisted that the ANC NGC had declared corruption to be counter-revolutionary, saying the practice was not in the interest of South Africa. Makhura said the ANC was encouraged by the NGC, saying delegates overwhelmingly understood the party has to renew or it will die.
“It was truly a festival of ideas and the largest political school. We assessed the mood in South Africa and the world and learnt from each other. The ANC NGC was truly focused; all commission rooms were packed.
It is a signal that something is turning in the ANC. When we talk about renewal there, it is no longer a slogan. Delegates were serious; calm but understood what was at stake.”
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