Statement+of+the+ANC+NEC,+March+26th+2006



=STATEMENT OF THE ANC NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE=


 * 26 March 2006**

The ANC National Executive Committee held one of its regular scheduled meetings on 25-26 March 2006 in Ekurhuleni.

This was the first meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) since the local government elections on 1 March 2006. The NEC therefore devoted the bulk of its deliberations to reviewing the election campaign and results.


 * Local Government Elections**

The NEC added its voice to the extended National Working Committee (NWC) in congratulating the South African people for their participation in a successful election. The NEC made particular mention of the hard work and commitment of the many thousands of ANC members who devoted time, energy and resources towards the achievement of a resounding ANC victory.

While detailed analysis of the election results is continuing within the ANC to further improve our capacity to address challenges, the NEC was able to make a number of broad observations.

The ANC's overall share of the vote has increased in every province in comparison with the 2000 local government elections. The ANC has had more councillors elected in 2006 than in 2000. The ANC now controls more councils than in 2000.

More than 1.3 million additional people voted for the ANC on the PR ballot in 2006 than voted for the ANC in 2000. In contrast, most other parties have lost support, both in percentage terms and in absolute numbers.

This means that in all of the most recent national, provincial and local elections, the people of South Africa have given the ANC a clear, unequivocal and unprecedented mandate to accelerate the transformation of South Africa.

This places a profound responsibility on the ANC to meet people's expectations. The NEC therefore agreed on a number of organisational tasks that the ANC needs to undertake in the period ahead to strengthen its capacity to support its public representatives at all levels in the implementation of the 2004 and 2006 ANC manifestos.

In addition to a number of measures to build and strengthen the structures of the ANC - including the enhancement of the political life and community activism of ANC branches - the NEC agreed on a number areas for attention. These include:


 * an approach towards benchmarking and measuring ANC's progress in government against the specific commitments made in the 2004 and 2006 manifestos;
 * mechanisms for the coordination of the ANC's local government programme in its national and provincial offices;
 * induction and political education programmes for all ANC councillors;
 * mechanisms for monitoring adherence to the ANC councillor code of conduct;
 * mechanisms for intervening to address political problems that may arise at local government level.

The NEC also considered some of the organisational challenges highlighted through the process of selecting ANC local government candidates. The ANC list process is unsurpassed by any other in South Africa in terms of its extent, thoroughness, popular involvement and democratic character. The list process has evolved over the course of six elections to become an important exercise of the popular will of the ANC membership.

However, a number of problems were identified in the process, including incident of ill-discipline and misconduct by ANC members. The National and Provincial List Committees will soon convene to assess the list process, review the existing list guidelines and make proposals to the NEC on how future processes should be conducted. It will also identify specific instances of misconduct and recommend corrective action.

The local government elections have given renewed impetus to the implementation of the resolutions of the ANC's 51st National Conference and 2005 National General Council on the building and strengthening of the structures of the ANC.


 * Alleged 'e-mail' correspondence**

In discussion of the matters arising from previous NEC meetings, the National Executive Committee had opportunity to discuss the issue of the alleged 'e-mails' purporting to originate among others from members of the NEC.

In this regard, the NEC resolved to:


 * reiterate the decision of the NEC meeting of 18-20 November 2005 which concluded that none of the members of the NEC referred to in the alleged electronic correspondence was involved in these smear campaigns;
 * note the report of the Inspector-General of Intelligence released in the past week, which confirms the conclusion of the NEC meeting of 18-20 November 2005;
 * reaffirm the ANC's support for, and confidence in, those state institutions responsible for exercising oversight functions;
 * mandate the ANC National Working Committee to put in place a mechanism to address this matter in so far as it affects the ANC; and,
 * convene a special NEC meeting without undue delay to address this matter.

771 words
 * From: http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/pr/2006/pr0326.html