Publications
Partners
President Jacob Zuma opened up the fourth ANC national general council today in Midrand, Johannesburg, with a frank speech on the state of the party, saying that membership had dropped and the party’s electoral majority was not growing during elections.
About 3 000 ANC branch delegates and invited guests listened to Zuma as he lashed members over the manipulation of branch membership registers, saying that such “negative tendencies” repelled voters and stopped the party from growing its membership.
Zuma said the tendencies included vote buying, gatekeeping and the funding of bulk membership forms. He said branches were also deliberately kept smaller so that those who wanted to manipulate membership registers could easily manage to do so.
“These tendencies make voters unhappy. They create a perception that the ANC has become a self-serving organisation, or one that deviates from its core values,” said Zuma.
He said members needed to demonstrate selflessness, sacrifice, collective leadership, humility, honesty and discipline.
The ANC national general council is scheduled to be concluded on Sunday, when the ANC will finalise new proposals for adjustments on government policy.
Zuma said membership recruitment drives in the party had lapsed. He proposed a new measure to deal with branch audits, saying that exceptions should be made where members were able to produce their membership cards.
“There is a need to come back to an easy membership system. You join, you get your card and you are there,” he said.
“There is something grossly wrong,” Zuma said.
However, Zuma said there was substantial stability in the ANC since the highly contested elective conference in Polokwane in 2007 – when he was first elected to lead the party.
