The+life+and+soul+of+the+party,+Sthembiso+Msomi,+City+Press

City Press, Johannesburg, 18/11/2006 21:27 - (SA)
=The life and soul of the party=


 * S’Thembiso Msomi**

Many a survey has been conducted in the past about what the average South African thinks of government, the ruling party and its leaders.

But what about the ANC members themselves? Since they are the people responsible for mobilising the public to vote for the party, how do they rate their organisation and its performance?

Many would think that the answers to these questions are as obvious as if one were to ask an Orlando Pirates fan which is the greatest South African soccer team of all time. But politics being politics, things are never that simple and straightforward.

ANC members in Gauteng were surveyed by a group known as Strategy and Tactics over a period of six months, and some interesting facts were revealed.

The research, which was the first of its kind in the party’s post-1994 history, was commissioned by the ANC Gauteng leadership. Its findings are to form part of the party’s programme of action for next year.

The researchers spoke to members of 136 of the province’s almost 300 ANC branches. Their survey covered questions ranging from the profile of membership in the province to members’ perceptions of the ANC-dominated government structures.

One of the findings that may surprise many outside the province is one that relates to the party’s relationship with alliance partners such as Cosatu and the SA Communist Party (SACP).

According to the survey, ANC members, who also belong to the SACP or Cosatu, are the most optimistic about the ruling party and its performance in government. This is despite the fact that SACP and Cosatu leaders at national level are the most critical of government policies, which they claim are “pro-rich and anti-poor”.

ANC Gauteng secretary, David Makhura, says this finding may be an indication that the views expressed by the leadership structures are not always in line with those of the general membership.

“This has interesting implications because it means that sometimes the messages that are shared on top are not shared on the ground. That is why in Gauteng we can’t talk of breaking the alliance. In Gauteng, the SACP, Cosatu and Sanco are integral to the ANC’s political life. We can’t even debate the question of dual membership,” he says.

According to the survey, 16% of ANC members in the province are also SACP card-carrying members and 14% belong to Cosatu.

While they are positive about government’s performance, the survey revealed that the most negative members are those who don’t belong to another organisation.

“It is the 20% (of ANC members) who do not belong to other structures that should be monitored. As we saw, they were most likely to feel ineffectual within the ANC. This group was more likely to be male (26%) than female (15%),” says the research report.

Perhaps as an indication of women’s majority in the party (53%), about 36% of ANC members in the province also belong to the ANC Women’s League. But this majority is not reflected in leadership structures where 62% of positions are held by men.

“The gender imbalance in office-bearer positions is an area the ANC will need to monitor, given the 50/50 quota implemented among elected local officials and the points noted in our qualitative report about men blaming women for only electing men, and not supporting other women as candidates,” the report says.

Makhura says the positive thing is that the same survey indicates that the majority of members believe that the 50/50 gender policy is a correct one.

But it is when it deals with socio-economic issues that the report becomes really interesting.

About 63% of ANC members in Gauteng live in formal metropolitan areas and only about 30% are from informal settlements.

Makhura believes that this is largely due to the success of the government’s housing programme which has seen large informal settlements such as Diepsloot being turned into formal housing.

“We asked all respondents how often, if ever, people in their household go hungry because of a shortage of food. This is a daily reality for 3% of members and 2% of office bearers, weekly for 19% of members and the seldom/never category includes 55% of members and 64% of office bearers,” the report says.

The survey also reveals that 42% of party members in the province are unemployed and a further 2% are “casual workers”.

About 52% of party members earn between R200 and R2 999 per month and only 23% earn over R7 000, dispelling the notion that the ANC has become “the party of the rich”.

While the party leadership would be happy to know that about 73% of their members believe that constituency offices (of the MPs and MPLs) have a positive impact in their communities, it must be worrying that most members do not know about ward committees.

The committees are supposed to be the backbone of local government. It is through them that communities can discuss developmental issues in their areas.

But according to the survey, 56% of ANC members have “never heard” of such committees in their area. About 13% believe such committees have no impact while 30% believe they are “bad”. Only 3% gave such committees a positive rating.

“It is a worrying development. If the ANC’s own activists do not know much about such important committees, what about the general public?” asked Makhura.

When asked about their confidence in the different spheres of government, 77% supported the national government’s programmes and 65% said they had a lot of confidence in the provincial government. This figure decreased to 53% when the question turned to local government.

But Makhura says the 53% actually reflects an improvement as, in the past, most party members were not positive about councillors.

The majority of ANC members believe that unemployment has worsened in the last five years, followed by crime. This is despite the fact that 51% believe the government is managing the economy well. The greatest improvement, most believe, has been in the education sector.

It is, therefore, not surprising that most believe unemployment is the main challenge facing government and society. This is followed by crime, HIV/Aids, poverty, poor service, corruption, child abuse, housing and, surprisingly, illegal immigrants.

HIV/Aids was another interesting area indicating that, in the past, the ANC leadership may have been out of step with the feelings of members. When asked about their “feelings” about social movements, members tended to be in favour of the Treatment Action Campaign, despite its running battles with national government.

Yet when they were asked to comment about government’s campaign against HIV/Aids, most branches (51%) preferred not to say anything. About 45% felt the government is not addressing the issue at all.

Despite the ANC’s internal problems, many of which arise from the succession debate, 98% of members are still loyal to the party. Only 1% said they would consider voting for the DA, ID or PAC.

Although this study was limited to Gauteng, it may be reflective of the views of party members elsewhere in the country.

Makhura says the report has been sent to the ANC’s national office and a number of provinces have expressed interest in it.


 * From: http://www.news24.com/City_Press/Features/0,,186-1696_2032519,00.html**

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