Organisational+Review,+ANC+Policy+discussion+document



=**TOWARDS THE CENTENARY OF THE ANC**=

=A STRATEGIC AGENDA FOR ORGANISATIONAL RENEWAL=

=DISCUSSION DOCUMENT ON THE ORGANISATIONAL REVIEW=

=**MARCH 2007**=


 * CHAPTER ONE:

POLITICAL FRAMEWORK AND STRATEGIC CONTEXT FOR THE ORGANISATIONAL REVIEW AND RENEWAL**

Over the ninety five years of its existence, the ANC has enjoyed unparalleled success as the leader of our people's struggle to rid South Africa of apartheid colonialism and all its manifestations. The movement evolved into an effective force for mass mobilisation and a primary source of unity of the African people in particular and the broadest range of social forces that share the vision of a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. Few movements or parties can show such a consistent record of triumph over adversity, spanning a period of almost a century. Today, the ANC enjoys the overwhelming confidence of the masses as a trusted leader and loyal servant of the people in the ongoing struggle to build a better life for all. Among the progressive forces in the continent and across the world, the movement has also earned respect as a reliable ally in the struggle for a better Africa and a more humane and equitable world order.
 * THE PRIMARY MISSION AND CHARACTER OF THE ANC REMAINS RELEVANT**

This remarkable success of the movement is not a result of sheer luck. Along the way, major setbacks and obstacles had to be overcome by men and women who were prepared to make supreme sacrifices to turn the ANC into what it is today. The movement has consciously developed unique features that have enabled it to overcome all the challenges it has encountered in its history. What are these features? Chief among them are the following:


 * Ability to develop a clearly defined theory of the South African revolution based on a concrete understanding of the global and domestic environment and outline a clear vision, strategic objectives and specific tactics at each given moment;
 * Capacity to mobilise a broad range of classes and strata around a common progressive vision, manage contradictions among these social forces and maintain their unity in action;
 * Recognition that leadership is earned in the crucible of struggle and not decreed;
 * Ability to turn major setbacks and crises into opportunities for collective reflection and organisational learning, applying the principles of constructive criticism and self-criticism;
 * Capacity to develop from its ranks, the cadreship and leadership capable of rising to the occasion and adapting to new conditions while remaining loyal to the interests of the people, always willing to correct those who make mistakes in order to build rather than destroy them;
 * Steadfastness of principle, shunning short-cuts and political expediency when dealing with complex problems, always ready to win over society to its point of view on difficult issues;
 * Commitment to fight for justice on a global scale, always ready to join hands with other progressive forces in the struggle for a humane and more equitable world order.

These unique features are the main source of the ANC's enormous capacity internal resilience and self-renewal. They are its internal defence mechanism that has seen the movement grow from strength to strength, always able to adapt to radical changes in the domestic and global environment. The ANC has been able to adapt to change while maintaining its primary mission and character as the principal mobiliser and unifier of the motive forces and a loyal servant of the people. The interests of the people, especially the working class and the poor, constitute the starting point and fundamental goal of ANC policy. Born of the people, the movement must always be rooted among the masses, always seeking to give creative organisational expression to their energies, aspirations and burning desire for self-emancipation and self-empowerment. Without the people, our movement will be denuded of its revolutionary character and essence.

Organisation is a central feature of all human activity. Organisation arises where there is a necessity and desire to solve particular problems encountered by people. At each given moment, the structure of an organisation is supposed to be a reflection of its cause: what it aims to achieve and how it hopes to do so. With specific reference to people's organisations, they seek to actively involve people in the resolution of their problems, guided by the dictum that the people are their own liberators. Their strategy and tactics, culture and values, conventions and traditions, and systems and structures seek to put the people first. Of course, this stated intent does not always materialise due to internal deficiencies experienced by many organisations in the course of their existence.

All organisations are subject to change as a result of changes in the external and internal environment. Organisations undertake organisational reviews to reflect whether they are best positioned to realise their mission and purpose. Out of such reviews come organisational renewal or re-engineering interventions to consolidate current strengths, while confronting and decisively tackling deficiencies in all aspects of organisational life. Renewal involves strengthening and sharpening key aspects of an organisation such as strategy and tactics, culture and values, conventions and traditions, systems and structures, so that the organisation can be in the best position to fulfill its primary mission. Renewal is about building strategic capacities to meet current demands and future imperatives by taking full advantage of opportunities presented by the changes in the broader environment, while systematically dealing with the emerging threats and potential dangers. What are the factors influencing organisational review and renewal and how has the ANC interacted with some of these factors?

The changing global environment has an impact on the life of many organisations and may force them to undertake major re-organisation and renewal initiatives. Such global factors may include:
 * FACTORS AND FORCES INFLUENCING ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE AND RENEWAL**


 * Changes in the international or regional balance of forces: The triumph of the October Revolution in the early 20th Century and its demise in the early 1990s had a profound effect on political and social movements throughout the world. The successes of the anti-colonial and national liberation movements in Africa, Latin America and Asia in the late 1950s and during the mid-to-late 1970s fomented and inspired our own struggle to higher levels.
 * Ideological trends and contestation of ideas: Ideas are central to human existence. Contestation of ideas shapes and influences the direction of social change. The dominant ideological outlooks and philosophical paradigms in the world tend to impact on the internal debates of existing or emergent political organisations. At the same time, the emergence of new political and ideological strands or influences - such as the women's and environmental movements or social movements - also have an impact on existing political organisations, both new and old. Progressive parties face the challenge of having to constantly renew their ideas and political language to take account of new developments and keep pace with the times.
 * Changes in technology: New technologies impact on the organisation of society and on social stratification in society. The scientific discoveries that drove the industrial revolution were central to the evolution of capitalism as a mode of production, which in turn gave rise to new forms of political organisations. It is widely acknowledged by movements and parties in the West that the rise of the information society is changing how they interact with their traditional support bases and society broadly. Technological changes also lead to shifts in the social bases of different political movements and parties. Parties and movements face the challenge of having to renew themselves so that they can remain relevant to the social forces that are by-products of technological revolutions, such as the new type of workers and the youth.

External global factors also have an impact on and shape the external domestic factors which also influence or dictate the need for organisational renewal. These factors may include:


 * The stage of development of a particular society: The discovery of gold and diamonds in the 1800s had a profound effect on colonial South Africa, laying the foundation for the rapid development of capitalism, industrialisation, urbanisation and the emergence of new forms of people's organisation such as the Natal Indian Congress (1894), African People's Organisation (1902), South African Native National Congress (1912), International Socialist League (1915), Industrial Workers of Africa (1917) and Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (1919) and the Communist Party of South Africa (1921). Throughout the world, progressive parties are currently grappling with the impact of globalisation on the policy-making functions of nation-states and the consequences for democracy and development.
 * Major changes in the social structure: Closely linked to the above are the stratifications - class, race, gender, urban, rural - which occur as a result of objective changes in the society or as a result of conscious policies of those in power. The numerous attempts by the apartheid colonial powers to extend pass laws to African women and resistance to this played an important role in mobilising women into the national liberation movement, eventually as full members. Similarly, the rapid industrialisation ushered in tremendous growth in the size and influence of the African working class and their organisations during the late 1930s and 1940s. This objective development gave impetus to the central role of the working class in the struggle and the twin problems of national oppression and class exploitation found full organisational, structured and conceptual expression in the work of the movement in all fronts. Today, Western democracies face a huge demographic problem of an aging population and a youth that is disengaged and alienated from the political process. This has forced many parties to rethink their tactics, practices and structures, including their language of discourse, in order to appeal to new generations.
 * Major changes in the national political landscape: For better or for worse, changes in the political landscape, have major implications on the organisations of protagonists in any conflict. For instance, as colonialism consolidated itself after the defeat of the Bambatha Rebellion and the subsequent formation of the Union of South Africa, new forms of resistance emerged, with new forms of organisation. Similarly, the coming into power of the National Party in 1948 and the consequent shift to grand apartheid had an impact on the forms of struggle and organisations of the oppressed. The turn to mass defiance and the subsequent mass arrests, banishment of leaders and banning of the people's organisations at the end of the 1950s made the adoption of armed struggle and formation of MK in 1961 the most logical strategic and organisational response. Both the banning of the ANC and the adoption of armed struggle had a major impact on the organisational culture and structures as this demanded a different posture. Failure to adapt to the changing conditions can consign organisations, even those with the best ideals, to the dustbin of history.

On the other hand, there are endogenous factors which also impose and influence the need for organisational renewal:


 * Responses to the external environment: Organisations survive depending on how they respond to the challenges posed by the external domestic and international environment. Closing your eyes to the challenges posed by the new situation is not an intelligent response. An inaccurate reading of the nature of the challenges may prompt a wrong response that may have serious long term implications on the organisation's survival. What needs to be avoided is dogmatism and lack of firmness of principle in dealing with difficult questions and new problems.
 * Periods of ideological flux: Changes in the external environment also create ambiguities and flux on the ideological terrain. Certainties become uncertainties that have to be contended with. Many progressive parties and movements adopted more pragmatic approaches to a whole host of questions around development policy, including on the attitude to the relationship between the state and the market. Our own movement had found a creative way to respond to the ideological flux of the early 1990s. Whereas the Freedom Charter talks about the nationalisation of the mines and banks, the ANC's Ready to Govern Conference (1992) and the RDP Conference (1993) shifted towards a more pragmatic response on the "nationalisation versus privatisation" debate, opting for a 'case by case' approach, later placing emphasis on the restructuring rather than the privatization of state-owned enterprises (SOE's).
 * Generational changes: Organisations have to continually ensure that they remain relevant to new generations, hence most political movements and parties have youth wings. Failure to do so will inevitably lead to stagnation within the party, and provide space for other concerns or forces to capture the emerging generations. The ability of any movement or party to recruit and train the best among the youth is a good indicator of internal resilience and self-renewal. A party or movement of the future invests a lot in making sure that its youth structures are able to mirror the best talent of the nation.
 * Organisational culture and values: These are often unwritten rules transmitted to new members and generations through political education or simply by them being schooled into organisational culture, how things are done or not done. Leadership plays an important role in institutionalising and reinforcing a particular kind of culture and set of values in an organisation.
 * Impact of political power: In the end, political organisations are about gaining access to political power and using that power to change society in line with its goals and mission. However, as we seek to transform and use power, it also impacts on individuals and the political organisation that is in power. Many popular movements and parties end up getting isolated from their social bases when they are in power, a phenomenon called 'social distance'. A progressive ruling party constantly strives to remain rooted among the masses and popular classes. Ruling parties are afflicted by problems such as corruption, careerism, patronage, etc. The management of the relationship between the party and the state can also create serious challenges unless the party is appropriately structured and properly resourced to give leadership to its cadres in all spheres of society.

All the factors alluded to in points 6, 7 and 8 above, have impacted, to varying degrees, on the ANC over the past ninety five years. Accordingly, the movement has to remain vigilant as to how they impact on its character and organisational culture and values and constantly find new and creative ways of adapting to the new environment, while remaining true to its primary mission and character.

The 1994 democratic breakthrough ushered in new conditions of freedom and democracy in our land. This victory of the democratic forces placed the movement in a position in which state power can be combined with mass power in serving the interests of the people. Undoubtedly, the movement has legitimately used state power over the past thirteen years to significantly improve the quality of life of the vast majority of our people and begin to roll back the legacy of apartheid colonialism in all its manifestations. In political, social and economic terms, a new society is emerging from the ruins of the old.

However, the journey towards a society envisaged in the Freedom Charter remains a long and arduous one. This new situation and emergent democratic society has also thrown up many organisational challenges for the ANC and the rest of the democratic forces. Once more, the movement needs a leadership, cadreship and membership that will be able to adapt to the demands and strategic imperatives of this new phase of struggle, and remould and renew the organisation in all its facets so that it can be best equipped to serve the people loyally under new conditions.

In the current phase of the national democratic revolution, the ANC commits itself to intensifying its work around the five pillars of social transformation:


 * mass and organisational work;
 * the state;
 * the economy;
 * ideological work;
 * international work.

The distinct feature of the post-1994 period is that the ANC is at once a national liberation movement and a ruling party. The conclusion of the 1994 National Conference, captured well in our current Strategy and Tactics document, was that the choice for the ANC is not to transform itself into a narrow electoral or parliamentary party. The movement is therefore a mass movement and a progressive ruling party that is rooted among the people as an agent for change. Strengthening mass and organisational work and improving the governing capacity of the ANC should therefore become critical strategic questions that receive the full attention of the movement so that its dual role and responsibility can find full organisational, structured and institutional expression at all levels and in all centres of power. There is often some friendly tension between the imperatives of the ANC as a national liberation movement with a distinct culture and revolutionary traditions, and the demands and obligations arising from being a ruling party that represents the nation as a whole. This tension can and should be managed politically.

Arising from this dual role of the ANC in the current period, the movement needs to develop capacity to:


 * understand the interconnection between political and socio-economic challenges in our emergent society;
 * lead the motive forces in pursuing their common interests and ensure their sectoral interests are linked to the overall strategic objective;
 * master the terrain of electoral contest, utilizing political power to advance the objectives of the NDR and wields instruments of state in line with these ideals reflected in the Constitution;
 * organises and mobilises a broad range of social forces and builds partnerships with society at large in the reconstruction and development and nation-building process;
 * conduct itself, both in its internal practices and in relation to society at large, in line with the ideals represented by the NDR and acts as a microcosm of the future.

Indeed, in the past seventeen years, a great deal of effort and energy has been put into restructuring and re-organising the structures of the movement to face up to the new challenges. How has the organisation adapted itself to the changed and rapidly changing conditions of struggle since its unbanning in 1990, and after coming to power in 1994? How far has such organisational restructuring gone in positioning the movement to play its role as both a liberation movement and a ruling party?


 * CHAPTER TWO**


 * MAIN CHANGES TO THE ANC STRUCTURES SINCE 1990**

There has not been a major change in the basic organisational structure of the ANC since 1943: branch, regional, provincial and national structures and the Leagues have remained. The different roles and responsibilities have only changed slightly. It is the 1943 Constitution that introduced the unitary character of the ANC. The 1958 Constitution took this further by emphasising what we today call democratic centralism as a decision-making and operating principle of the ANC, clarifying the point that decisions of the majority are binding on all members and that the decisions of upper structures are binding on all lower structures. The rights of members to participate and determine policy, through free speech and free circulation of ideas is affirmed.
 * Changes in Organisational structure**

Although the 1942 National Conference adopted a resolution on the need for the establishment of the Women and Youth League, it is only in the 1958 Constitution that they appear formally, where they are referred to as 'Auxiliary Bodies'. MK appeared formally only in the 1991 Constitution and was removed in the subsequent Constitutions as a result of the integration of the different armed forces into a single national defence force. The 1991 Constitution also included the Leagues amongst the constitutional structures, defining their membership and relations to the mother body, including the issue of their autonomy.

Changes to the duties and powers of different structures
There have been no major changes in the powers and functions of the National Conference as the highest organ of the movement since 1943. Similarly, the basic composition of the Conference as made up mainly of branch delegates has also remained a constant. However, with the extension of the term of office of the NEC from three to five years (in 1997) to coincide with the terms of government, the National General Council was introduced as a structure between Conferences.

The National Executive Committee has undergone a number of qualitative and quantitative changes over the past seventeen years. The first set of changes related to additions to the powers of the NEC: the inclusion in 1997 of a clause giving the NEC the right to dissolve lower constitutional structures, to appoint the National List Committee and adopt List Guidelines. The second set was with regard to its composition: the addition of the position of the National Chairperson and re-introduction of Deputy President in 1991. In 1994, the number of additional members was increased from 50 to 60; and number of people which the NEC could co-opt after Conference from 3 to 5. Since 1991, provision is made for a provincial chairperson who is elected in her or his own right to the NEC to vacate the provincial seat. However, the 1994 Constitution included a rider which allowed for exemption to this rule in certain circumstances.

Gender
Coming out of the heated debate that took place at the 1991 National Conference on gender, women's emancipation and representation became a key constitutional issue in the ANC. Subsequently, in the run-up to the 1994 elections, the NEC in its List Guidelines made provision for at least 30% representation of women on all ANC lists. This was followed, in the 1994 and subsequent Constitutions, by the inclusion of a separate clause on "Gender and Affirmative Action" (Rule 6), making provision for affirmative action through quotas. The 1994 Constitution left the determination of a quota to the NEC, but the 1997 and 2002 Constitutions specified it as at least one third. The NGC decision on 50/50 gender parity has implications on Rule 6 of the Constitution as it stands and this will need to be further debated and appropriately amended.

Discipline
Since 1943, this section has progressively expanded, culminating in its inclusion in 2002 as a lengthy appendix to the Constitution. This is reflective of the range of disciplinary matters the movement has to deal with, which seemed to have escalated as the ANC entered and consolidated its position in government.

Quorum
The 1958 Constitution introduced a quorum for ANC meetings for the first time. It outlined that 50% of the membership of the branch constitutes a quorum for all meetings of a local branch; delegates from 40% of branches in a province constitute the quorum for provincial conference and two provinces representing at least 33.3% constitute a quorum for National Conference. It is only after the 1997 National Conference that the quorum was re-introduced in the Constitution as 50% plus one for all ANC meetings. This was retained in the 2002 Constitution.

In addition to the constitutional amendments, conferences also dealt with a range of other organisational matters:

Role of branches

 * As the basic unit of the organisation, Conferences and NGCs pay more attention to the need to strengthen branches. Following the struggle of branches to adapt to the post-1994 period, the National General Council of 2000 in Port Elizabeth played a major role in defining the role of branches, as agents for change in local communities.
 * The changes in local government structures, with the introduction of wards also fundamentally impacted on how we conceptualise branches and their roles, in line with the approach of the 2000 NGC. Thus, the decision was taken to align branches with wards, prompting a complete re-organisation of all the grassroots structures launched in 1990. This was firstly articulated in a resolution of the 1997 Conference and finally reflected as a constitutional amendment in 2002 in Stellenbosch.
 * Another practice introduced in the lead-up to the 1997 Conference was the auditing of branches, as a way of rooting out the emerging practice of bogus branches or branches set up mainly for conferences.

Political education and cadre development

 * The relaunch of the ANC post 1990 was accompanied by a strong emphasis on basic political education on the history and policies of the movement. However, in the restructuring process undertaken in 1994, the political education department was dismantled. Later in 1995 this decision was revisited, culminating in the adoption of a comprehensive resolution on cadre development and deployment at the 1997 National Conference. This included a return to the idea of establishing a political school, the emphasis on the centrality of political education, and the setting up of deployment committees.
 * The NGC of 2000 also focused attention on the role and responsibilities of individual ANC members and cadres, wherever they are deployed, as agents for change.

Relationship between organisational and governance structures

 * This was amongst the key issues on the agenda of the 1997 National Conference. The Conference adopted a range of resolutions on governance which dealt with the relationship between constitutional and governance structures, ranging from the role of ANC caucuses, the appointment of premiers, etc. In the main, the resolutions sought to re-affirm the centrality of ANC constitutional structures in giving leadership to and holding cadres deployed in government accountable, while seeking to avoid micro-management of government.

Overall, important organisational and constitutional milestones have been achieved in the past seventeen years. The ANC has been able to:


 * Rebuild itself from an underground and banned organisation with an armed wing, into a mass legal movement during the early 1990s;
 * Merge together the different experiences of cadres who operated in diverse contexts - legal mass organisations, underground structures, prison and exile - into a cohesive organisation;
 * Develop an experience in contesting elections and reaching out to the people;
 * Put in place new structures to deal with organisational and governance work;
 * Build and maintain new branches at community level, including using the realignment process to renew and strengthen the political life of branches;
 * Run political education programmes focusing on ideological training and debate;
 * Maintain good relations with progressive formations in the region, continent and in the world.

Going forward, we need to assess the role and performance of the structures we have put in place since 1994 in the light of the challenges we face. This will enable us to further identify areas in which organisational renewal is necessary. What have been the major successes and shortcomings of the ANC structures in the post-1994 period? How do we assess and measure the performance of the organisation?

**THE ROLE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE CURRENT STRUCTURES**THE ROLE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE CURRENT STRUCTURES
The role and performance of ANC organisational structures has to be assessed against the movement's primary mission and the key tasks of each phase of the NDR as outlined in the Strategy and Tactics and National Conference resolutions. This constitutes the key performance areas of the organisational structures of the movement. Against this background, what are the macro-organisational strengths and weaknesses of the ANC and its constituent bodies in the current phase? Are the organisational structures of the movement positioned to meet the imperatives and challenges of the current phase of the NDR? Have we as the ANC taken full advantage of the favourable conditions of freedom and democracy to strengthen our position in society? How is political power and dynamics of the emergent democratic society impacting on the character and core values of the movement?

MACRO-ORGANISATIONAL STRENGTHS AND SHORTCOMINGS OF THE ANC
Over the past 13 years, the ANC has taken advantage of the opportunities created freedom and democracy to broaden its political influence and moral leadership in society. The movement has been able to consolidate itself in a number of areas - electorally, politically and organisationally. The ANC has:


 * Broadened reach and mass appeal beyond its traditional support base: Successive electoral results point to the fact that the ANC's mass appeal and social base has grown very significantly across the various national groups, classes and strata during the First Decade of Freedom. The movement has successfully eroded the social base of other parties, while maintaining the loyalty of its historical constituency. The people's confidence in the ANC has been rising at every election as a result of the progress we are making in improving the quality of life of the majority. And yet, more work still needs to be done to win over more South Africans to the cause of progressive social change, particularly the Indian, Coloured and White workers and the middle strata, because they too objectively stand to benefit from the new society we are building.
 * Recruited and trained thousands of new loyal members and outstanding community activists: Organisationally, the movement has also grown and renewed itself quite significantly since its unbanning. It has drawn into its ranks thousands of new members and trained them into activists and volunteers who are loyal servants of the people in their communities. The movement has also attracted into its ranks, a significant number of professionals who are placing their skills and other resources at the service of building the movement. Many among this generation of new cadres who are genuinely committed to the culture of service and are doing their best to contribute to the building of a more humane, caring and equitable society. And yet, when membership growth is not accompanied by political education, it results in an escalation of problems such as ill-discipline and disunity in the ranks.
 * Created a new cadre of public representatives and civil servants: The ANC has the largest army of local, provincial and national public representatives who are deployed across the country to work with and among the people to improve the quality of life. These cadres have gained new skills and insights that are crucial for the success of the NDR. Many of them are active in the structures of the movement at various levels and they are contributing a great deal in the political life of our structures. In particular, the public representatives are doing remarkable mass and organisational work in their constituencies and wards. And yet, the political management of governance structures and the accountability of cadres remains a serious challenge. Many internal problems in the movement can always be attributed to the battle for access to power and resources.
 * Mass work under new conditions: Whatever shortcomings, the ANC has not abandoned the basic rule of revolution: the mobilisation of the social forces. Through the innovative work of branches and creativity of our volunteers, the ANC is succeeding in overcoming the spectre of mass demobilisation and demoralisation. The impact of our mass work is usually at its best during high-profile campaigns such as Elections. Through mass campaigns such as Letsema, Imvuselelo and government programmes such as izimbizo, we are beginning to find ways of sustaining mass mobilisation in a democratic and developmental context. Our grassroots volunteers and local activists are renewing the movement's capacity to keep dynamic contact with the people and keep them permanently mobilised. And yet, the ability of our grassroots structures to sustain popular mobilisation around issues of development remains unsatisfactory due to a paucity of organisational skills and experience among our cadres on development-oriented mobilisation, as opposed to resistance politics. Our political education and training curriculum needs to address this gap.

However, in the past thirteen years, the movement has also accumulated weaknesses that afflict most ruling parties in the world. If not addressed urgently, these weaknesses have the potential to erode the capacity of the ANC to remain an agent for change and a loyal servant of the people. What are some of these weaknesses and challenges?


 * Government office exposes cadres of most ruling parties to multiple dangers such as 'social distance', patronage, careerism, corruption and abuse of power. These tendencies can undermine the noble values and lofty ideals of the movement and derail it from its principal task of serving the people. All these tendencies have a cumulative effect of eroding the sound ideological base, moral authority and intellectual vibrancy of the movement. Unless they are vigorously and systematically combated, these tendencies can transform the ANC into an ordinary self-serving party which is merely content with staying in power by all means necessary, with complete disregard for the interests of the people.
 * Managing the interface between the movement and the state: Successive election victories have placed the ANC as the principal driver of fundamental social transformation and development. Our movement must take full responsibility for the content and pace of the transformation, reconstruction and development of our society. And yet, there are occasions when we operate as if there are two ANCs: the one ANC in government and the other outside government. The relationship between ANC constitutional structures and cadres deployed in government is often fraught with conflict. The ANC's capacity to monitor policy implementation and provide strategic leadership to government remains hugely uneven. In some cases, cadres deployed in government are impatient with and reluctant to subject major governance issues to organisational discussions. There is, of course, another extreme where ANC structures succumb to the temptation to micro-manage governance as if they are the executive authority or administrative arm of the state. These two extremes create unnecessary conflict in our structures and they must be avoided.
 * Flawed approach to membership recruitment and a decline in ideological depth among cadres: The current recruitment practices are not informed by the need to draw into our ranks the most outstanding individuals among the motive forces and the best in society. Too many new members come into the organisation without a proper system of socialisation and politicisation around the core values and principles of the movement. There are also many instances in which people are recruited into the ANC to inflate the membership figures. In other cases, individuals join the ANC in order to use the membership of the organisation as a means to pursue their own selfish interests. At a strategic level, we lack the institutional capacity to produce new cadres who can meet the strategic imperatives of governance and the demands of mass work at a scale large enough to make a sustainable impact across the organisation.
 * Lack of institutional resources and capacity undermines the leadership role of the ANC: Many parties of our size and stature have put in place, at the instance of coming into power, institutions that are strictly meant to support and sustain the party as it undertakes the tasks of leading society through many decades of social change. Institutions such as Foundations, Policy Think Tanks and Party Schools are crucial for the sustainability of progressive parties. We are very weak in developing a critical mass of cadres who need to make a decisive impact in all the centres of power and influence. Our ideological work among the motive forces is erratic, while our cadreship deployment lacks a sense of priority. In terms of policy monitoring and evaluation, we have no organisational capacity to write home about. This question of institutional capacity is central to the ANC's ability to deal systematically with some of the major internal problems arising from political incumbency.

THE ROLE AND STATE OF THE MEMBERSHIP
Building and developing the membership is one of the critical tasks of any mass-based party or movement. The ability to recruit or attract new members, especially from among the younger generations is a good sign that an organisation is able to renew itself. With regard to the ANC, the membership is the foundation upon which our movement rests. The strength of the ANC and its standing among the people derives from the calibre of people it is able to draw into its ranks. Over the years, the ANC has been able to attract into its ranks and train some of the best individuals from across the different classes, strata and national groups: their values, principles, skills and talent. The movement has been able to reproduce its progressive values and revolutionary traditions among the different generations of the membership. ANC membership means a commitment to a life of self-sacrifice, courage, honesty, generosity, humility, truthfulness, integrity, temperance and service to the people. Election into leadership is an even heavier burden because it demands that an exemplary conduct that reflects the values and principles of the movement. The membership plays a central role in the political life of the organisation: they are the ultimate arbiter in the resolution of critical questions facing the movement. Members have rights, duties and clear tasks outlined in Rules 4 and 5 of the ANC Constitution. To join the ANC is to make a commitment to a life of disciplined activism among the motive forces and the people in general, while to be a supporter is to stand by the movement without actually being part of a structure. In this sense, the ANC is a mass-based movement with an activist-oriented membership. What is the current situation?

In the past decade, the ANC membership has averaged 400 000. This is about 4% of our national electoral support, using the 2004 elections. Important questions have arisen in terms of both the quality and quantity of the current ANC membership. Is the ANC big enough in terms of paid-up membership? Is the line between supporters and members of the ANC not too blurred to compromise values and principles?

In the past seventeen years, we have faced a huge challenge of mass entry into the movement. Our systems and structures have not always been able to cope with the large number of South Africans who want to be members of the movement. As we have already pointed out, our approach to recruitment is quite problematic and does open the movement up to tendencies such as "gate-keeping", "ghost membership", "rent-a-member" and other fraudulent and manipulative practices that seek to influence the outcomes of conferences and list processes. Recruitment is about ensuring that a potential recruit understands the ANC's objectives and expectations even before signing up for membership. We need to emphasise the educational dimensions of this recruitment, to ensure that by the time a person becomes a member, there is an understanding of what obligations s/he has to the movement and the people.

At an administrative and technical level, the ANC has been grappling with the challenge of putting in place a membership system that meets the political imperatives of the Constitution as well as the requirements of operational efficiency, simplicity and information security. For seventeen years, we have been grappling with the challenge of modernising our membership system. We have now put in place infrastructure in the provinces and this will be rolled out to regions. We have a durable smart card that offers many possibilities for future innovations. We are now finally focusing on addressing the administrative and technical deficiencies of the current system so that the system can meet the political and operational efficiency requirements.

What is the role and place of the branch in the political life of the movement? How are branches acquitting themselves in mobilising, educating and uniting the motive forces so that they struggle together to speed up transformation and development in their localities? To what extent are ANC branches serving the people where they live?
 * THE ROLE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE BRANCHES**

The movement has, in the last two National Conferences and NGCs, reaffirmed the centrality of the branch in the political life of the movement and communities. According to our Strategy and Tactics, the branch is the "primary vehicle for maintaining and enhancing the mass-based character of the ANC". It is the key driver of community development and local transformation efforts. It is the primary responsibility of the branch to serve the people and keep them actively mobilised and united in action to find solutions to their own problems. The strategic location of the branch in the midst of communities and its proximity to the people makes it the bedrock on which all the mass work of the ANC and internal decision-making of the movement rest. The branch serves as the link between the membership and other organs of the movement: every member of the ANC is obliged to belong to a branch where he or she ordinarily resides. The branch also has responsibility to grow the ANC's influence among the different sectors of the motive forces in the ward. For this reason, the branch plays a unique role in the recruitment of new members as well as their training and transformation into activists. The branch is also expected to give leadership to the developmental agenda of each community by spearheading community participation in the IDP process and strengthening the ward committee. The branch is the primary vehicle for conducting mass work in communities. Without strong, dynamic and vibrant branches, the ANC will be denuded of its mass character. How are the branches fulfilling this role?

After the unbanning of people's organisations in 1990, the movement devoted a great deal of time and effort towards establishing the ANC's organisational infrastructure throughout the length and breadth of South Africa. By the time of the 1994 election, the ANC had a presence in many new areas of organisation. During the First Decade of Freedom major inroads have been made in setting up viable and vibrant branches in various wards across the country. The revitalisation and activation of branches has been a common theme in all our Conferences. We currently have more than 3000 branches, an increasing number of which are beginning to find innovative ways of maintaining dynamic contact with communities. In many communities, some of which are in the remotest areas of our country, the ANC branch is the main source of stability and social cohesion. We have extremely resourceful grassroots activists who run the affairs of most community structures. Branches have also drawn into their ranks and trained many new members who have keenly been demonstrating their commitment to serve their communities.

In 2000, the ANC introduced a system of giving annual awards to the branches and collectives of councillors who show exceptional and outstanding performance in serving the people. These awards are meant to highlight good organisational practice and serve as a motivation to the grassroots cadres of the movement. Since the introduction of the Sol Plaatje Award for the Best ANC Branch, the movement has been able to find out and highlight the work of some of the best branches of the ANC. The process of selecting the best branch has exposed the movement to some of the most outstanding work done by our grassroots structures in communities. It is clear that an increasing number among our branches have been showing sterling commitment to serving their communities. These branches are in constant touch with the different sectors of the community, through campaigns and programmes that seek to deal with the local concerns of the people. They are able to mobilise and involve their membership in community work. They are also able to recruit and train new members and convert them into enthusiastic volunteers and activists, thus helping to renew and revitalise the movement. They work well with their councillors and are able to support them and hold them to account to the entire community. They are able to mobilise and involve both women and youth in the campaigns that address their issues and in the process contribute to building vibrant structures of the ANCWL and ANCYL. Regardless of how difficult the terrain seems, whether in a vast or mountainous rural area, a densely populated township or a hostile suburb, there is a growing number of branches that do inspirational work of rooting the movement among the people. This category of branches is able to raise the necessary resources in their locality to support the implementation of their programmes of action. They are able to master mass work under new conditions. These branches have selfless volunteers who are making a huge difference in the life of their communities. They represent the best traditions of the ANC - loyal service to the people!

However, this positive picture is only one side of the coin. There are also many problems afflicting ANC branches. One of the major weaknesses is that many leading cadres of the movement who are in strategic areas of responsibility in the movement, the state, business and civil society do not participate in branches. Whatever the excuse for such a disconnection from the basic unit of the organisation, the result is bad: many branches are poorer without the involvement of leading cadres in the areas where they live. Branches lack the basic resources to establish their presence and sustain their work in the communities. Lack of systematic political training and development programmes for local leadership forces the organisation to rely on a very shaky foundation. Many of the BECs are composed largely of members who are unemployed and poor. This makes them susceptible to manipulation by careerists and factionalists who pursue personal or sectarian agendas. Branches spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with administrative issues instead of concentrating on mass work and organisational consolidation. The prime time of many branches is taken by problems around the membership system and convening BGMs and AGMs that only quorate after several attempts. In fact, annual election of the BEC has become a source of organisational instability and lack of continuity of campaigns and programmes at a local level. The movement can do better without some of these major disruptions occasioned by annual election of BECs.

As we move towards the Centenary, the strategic question that faces the movement is whether there is a need to overhaul the current model of a ward-based branch, both in terms of role and form. Should we consider other models than the current geographic-based branch to reach out to other sectors of the motive forces? Or should the focus be on improving the quality of cadreship and the work of ward-based branches so that they can respond effectively to the unique concerns and conditions of their own localities? Our conclusion is that the current model of a ward-based branch should be maintained to unite various sectors of the motive forces in a given geographic area. However, a great deal of flexibility should be given to branches to set up creative structural mechanisms that will optimise their ability to respond to the specific geographic circumstances and socio-economic interests of their diverse constituency. In the next five years, a significant amount of time and resources should be dedicated towards improving the quality of mass work and cadreship development in all our branches. The NEC and PEC members in particular, should dedicate a fair amount of time on an annual basis, working with a specified number of branches to build a core of activists who understand and are willing to make sacrifices to ensure the branch accomplishes its constitutional mandate.

THE ROLE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SUB-REGIONS AND ZONES
What strategic value do the zonal and sub-regional structures add to the work of ANC in all the fronts and pillars of the current phase of the struggle? Do they have a specific role with regard to mass work and governance? Are these structures simply adding another layer that complicates the decision-making and implementation processes of the organisation, while contributing nothing to the primary mission of the ANC?

Sub-regions and zones are primarily created to ensure coordination and cohesion in the work of branches and local municipalities. Sub-regions correspond with local municipal and metro sub-council boundaries, while any three or more branches may be structured into a zone. In relation to mass work as it relates specifically to major national, provincial and regional campaigns, both the zones and sub-regions play a very crucial coordinating and supportive role to branches. These structures also run political education for branches and election campaigns. Without them, RECs will have serious difficulties in implementing major national, provincial and regional campaigns and programmes. With specific regard to Sub-regions, these structures have a potential role in overseeing and supporting the work of ANC councillors in local municipalities (B municipalities). Although this role is currently played by the REC, many sub-regions in vast rural districts are playing a very constructive role in supporting the work of local municipalities. In metro regions, sub-regions have no role.

If the movement accepts the argument that sub-regions have a huge potential in enhancing mass work and political education in the branches, we need to take steps to ensure that these structures have minimum resources and some space to operate from. The same will apply to zones.

With respect to sub-regions in the regions outside metros, a decision needs to be made whether they should be given the responsibility to oversee the work of the ANC in a B municipality, linking branches to local government in the area. If they play this role, there is a need to strengthen their capacity. This should be clarified better in the Constitution. Again, the local PCOs needs to provide space and operational support for the work of sub-regions once it assumes greater responsibility in the functioning of the local municipality and serves to link the branches with local governance.

In metros, the REC carries the responsibility on organisational and governance matters. The zonal committees will be given the same administrative and organisational support that sub-regions get from local PCOs so that they can play a coordinating role and give support to branches in the implementation of the programme of action. In metros, sub-regions should not be compulsory, giving the PEC responsibility to take a decision where this may be necessary.

The key issue for debate is whether the sub-regional committee should have political authority and oversight responsibility on a B municipality or the current status quo should remain. If we opt for the former, political management and interface with the mayor, speaker and chief whip will become an important area of the sub-regional leadership. Currently, most of this political management resides with the REC. If sub-regions have more authority over local municipalities, the election of sub-regional committees should take place at a meeting of all BECs in the sub-region. The following options are put as to the composition of the sub-region, depending on its role:


 * **Option 1:** Coordinating role: If the prevailing view is that the sub-region should play only a coordinating role, the responsibility to supervise and direct the work of the ANC remains with the REC. The sub-regional committee should then consist of at least an elected chairperson, secretary and organising secretary, the secretary and chairperson of each BEC and two representatives from the Women's League and Youth League, respectively. REC deployees and MP/Ls should attend meetings. The sub-regional PCO organiser and administrator should be part of the committee to provide administrative and organisational support to the elected leadership.
 * **Option 2:** Overseeing and directing the work of the ANC in the sub-region: Should this be the prevailing view, the sub-regional committee will have a more significant organisational role. This will require a more formal structure to be put in place. It is proposed that a sub-regional executive committee of at least five directly-elected members should be elected to run the affairs of the sub-region, composed of the chairperson, secretary, treasurer, organising secretary and political education secretary. The branch chairperson or secretary and one representative from each of the Leagues, should serve ex-officio on the committee. MP/Ls and the PCO organiser and administrator can attend the committee meetings. The sub-regional chair and secretary should serve as ex-officio members of the REC.

THE ROLE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE REGIONS
The regional sphere of our organisation has become an increasingly important structure in the political and organisational work of the movement in the past ten years. Regions have been given constitutional powers at the 51st national Conference so that they can play the crucial role of coordinating, building and supporting branches in their work, working with and engaging various sectors in the region around the ANC's transformation agenda and overseeing the work of municipalities in the region.

The ANC has 53 regions, demarcated along the metro and district jurisdictions. Their performance across the country is quite uneven. Some of the regions work exceptionally well with branches, public representatives and the various sectors of the motive forces, while others are locked up in divisive battles with branches, councillors and PECs. Regional General Councils have become a very critical platform of interaction and engagement between the branches and the regional, provincial and national leadership. Some REC members, especially those who are not in government, make very little effort in understanding issues of local government and supporting municipalities to meet their obligation of serving the people. There are regions which run very exciting political education programmes. RECs also lack a stable resource base as the levies that are paid by councillors are appropriated by PECs. In some regions, the ANC works very well with other Alliance structures at a regional level. This needs to be strengthened in all regions. Administratively, most regions are limping because they cannot fill the posts of organisers or administrators who have resigned.

The ANC needs to take a long term view on the role of regions - and indeed metros and district municipalities. This means that the region should become a critical area of organisational and governance work as we move to the Second Centenary of the ANC and the Twentieth Anniversary of Freedom. This view would require greater devolution of critical organisational work such as mass mobilisation, political education and political management of governance. In the context of a South Africa whose system of governance and intergovernmental relations are maturing to place districts and metros at the centre of the struggle against poverty and underdevelopment, this view of the role of regions place huge demands on the RECs. It is at regional level where we should build capacity to run large scale political education for RECs and branches and ensure that RECs are positioned and equipped to give leadership to various sectors of the motive forces, civil society and cadres deployed in government.

THE ROLE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROVINCES
The provincial sphere is a critical component of the movement with the responsibility to implement the programme of transformation in its jurisdiction. The role and tasks of the PEC have evolved in the context of the role and functions of provinces in our country's political system. In the organisational sense, the PEC's primary responsibility should be to ensure that there are dynamic branches that can mobilise and lead communities. It also has the responsibility to conduct political work among the various sectors and work with them to build a democratic society. The PEC oversees the implementation of ANC policy in government by supporting and holding cadres deployed in government accountable. It has to work with and among the various social forces and to grow the movement's influence among the people. With regard to mass mobilisation and organisation, provinces assume the main responsibility for high-profile campaigns on provincial, national and international issues. In addition, the province is a critical point of delivery of the ANC's political education and training programme, targeting provincial and regional leadership, public representatives and advanced courses for cadres who graduate from branch and regional political classes. In this sense, each province needs sufficient organisational capacity to carry out sustained mass mobilisation and ideological work among the motive forces, conduct political education and training for branches and regions, and monitor and evaluate policy and oversee governance and service delivery.

The performance of provinces is also uneven. In terms of organisational work and mass mobilisation, most provinces have shown steady improvement in organisation of new sectors and in setting up structures in uncharted territories during the past decade. However, political management of governance remains a major area of weakness in all provinces. The relationship between the ANC and governance structures remains a constant source of conflict and this affects the ability of the ANC to serve the people. Lack of common protocols and approaches on how the PECs interact with MECs. In some provinces the PWC or the Officials receive regular reports from MECs on critical issues, while in other provinces it is the Provincial Secretary who largely interacts with those deployed in government. The ANC Provincial Offices are depleted of core staff, making it difficult for them to fulfill their mandate as provincial nerve-centres of the organisation. They are nowhere close to reflecting the image of nine Provincial Sub-Headquarters of the ANC.

With regard to political education and training, provinces are trying their best to respond to the demands of the current context by running political classes and schools for branches, regions and provincial leadership and the Leagues. Some provinces even run political classes for the trade unions and civics. However, the scale of our current political education programmes is not sufficient to make a decisive impact on the quality of organisation. There is no disciplined approach to cadreship development. The current curriculum is not implemented systematically across all the levels of the organization and provinces run different programmes. Consequently, cadres graduating from branch, regional and provincial political classes in different provinces do not go through the same curriculum. The institutionalisation of political education at national and provincial level and allocation of appropriate resources to this important area of work will go a long way in correcting some of the internal problems of the movement.

THE ROLE AND PERFORMANCE OF NATIONAL STRUCTURES
The national constitutional organs of the ANC play a very crucial role in affirming and reinforcing the unitary nature and national character of the organisation. These structures take decisions on behalf of and act in the interest of the movement as a whole. They are required to sum up the general experiences of our people across the country and make determinations that seek to represent the best interests of the movement and the people. They also have the responsibility to provide leadership on national and international issues, guided by the ANC Constitution as well as its traditions and principles. In the context of the position of the ANC as the ruling party, the national structures have a responsibility to give leadership to the entire national democratic state and the nation as a whole. The national leadership carries the ultimate burden of ensuring that the ANC is kept united and focused on its primary mission. They have primary responsibility to give leadership on all fronts and in all centres of power. Finally, the national leadership has a responsibility to ensure balanced and equitable socio-economic development across the country. In practice, what is the performance of each organ in the current period? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

The National Conference, NGC and National Policy Conference
The National Conference is the highest decision-making body in the ANC. It is the final arbiter on matters relating to the ANC Constitution and policy positions. It elects members of the NEC whose mandate is to carry forward its decisions and policies. Like in all other conferences of the ANC, 90% of voting delegates come from branches. No major change is proposed with regard to the powers, functions and composition of the National Conference. However, there is a need to continuously improve and deepen the participatory and educational character of the Conference preparatory processes to ensure that ANC members and society generally is able to make input into the debates on various issues that will serve before the Conference because the ANC is a parliament of the people. By the time Conference adopts resolutions, we should have a comprehensive sense of what our people's views and attitudes are about all the matters under debate, including on matters of leadership. In addition, we need to ensure that the resolutions adopted by the National Conference are more specific in terms of setting priorities and targets for each term of the NEC. This will enhance the accountability of elected leadership at all levels. Without going into the details that must be elaborated by the NEC and cadres deployed in government, it is important that the National Conference adopts resolutions that sets broad targets and benchmarks for the next five years on matters of organisation and governance. This will enhance accountability of our structures and cadres on the Conference mandate and resolutions.

The National General Council was introduced at the 50th National Conference. It is a consultative body that conducts a mid-term review of the policies and programmes adopted by the National Conference, including the performance of the NEC in this regard. The NGC has proven to be a very important body for ideological and policy debates that are often difficult to have in elective Conferences wherein the pending leadership elections pre-occupy most delegates. The NGC cannot change policy decisions and directives of the National Conference. It has the authority to ratify, rescind or alter decisions taken by other constituent bodies of the ANC. While no major change is proposed about the NGC, there is a need for ongoing discussions to clarify the role, powers and functions of this important body of the movement. In addition, the NGC is as good as the quality of the political preparations preceding it. Poor preparations can limit the extent to which this structure can serve as a platform for new ideas and innovations on matters of organisation, policy and strategy and tactics. This is a matter that needs the utmost attention of the national leadership collective.

The National Policy Conference has proven to be a very useful platform for policy review in the run-up to the National Conferences. It is a forum for reviewing policy and new developments that have significant policy implications in terms of Strategy and Tactics. While the Policy Conference has no constitutional standing, its conclusions constitute important consensus on matters of policy and strategy and tactics. However, such consensus is still subject to the debate at the National Conference. It is proposed that the National Policy Conference should also be convened before every national and local government elections to deliberate on the Election Manifesto which will be submitted to the NEC for final adoption. This will enable the movement to have a much more comprehensive and consultative process on setting the priorities for each term of government.

The role and performance of the NEC, NWC and National Officials
The National Executive Committee is the premier leadership organ of the ANC and highest decision-making body between National Conferences. The NEC assumes the overall responsibility of providing political leadership to the movement and the people as a whole. It bears the singular responsibility to ensure that the ANC makes an impact on all fronts and in all centres, including on the continent and the world. By composition, the NEC is supposed to draw from some of the best cadres of our revolution reflecting the richness and diversity of political experience, generational mix, gender and the motive forces. The NEC remains a site of rich, dynamic and animated political discussions, which reflects the longstanding traditions of internal democratic debate within the movement. Its deliberations and decisions attract keen interest from many in our society who understand the significance of the decisions of ruling parties. The NEC has also been able to successfully intervene to arrest internal problems in several provinces across the country. Above all, the NEC carries the historical burden of keeping our movement and people united. At the level of generality, the NEC has been able to perform its core functions extremely well in the past thirteen years.

The NWC is elected by the NEC to do the day-to-day management work of the organisation. It meets fortnightly. The NWC plays a very important role in giving direction on organisational and governance issues that arise from time to time. In particular, the rotation of NWC meetings in various provinces had an extremely positive impact on the morale of cadres and had a stabilising effect on the state of organisation. This good practice has stopped in the years after the Stellenbosch National Conference. It is only recently that the NWC experienced challenges of cohesion and the leakage of information about its deliberations to the media. The NWC needs to spend its prime time interacting with structures of the movement to help them to practically resolve problems and improve their efficacy. Equally important is the need for the NWC to regularly interact directly with the different sectors of the motive forces.

The Officials play a very crucial role in the political life of the movement. They serve as the glue that holds the movement together. They prepare and process reports that serve before the NEC and NWC, always seeking to ensure that issues are discussed and decided upon after careful consideration, in the secure knowledge that good decisions and lasting solutions come from patient preparation and laborious application of the mind. They also make decisive interventions in between NWC and NEC meetings. Over the past thirteen years, the Officials have functioned quite well. However, some challenges have arisen recently on the functioning of this collective.

The different political offices of the Officials -Presidency, SGO and TGO - have clear constitutional responsibilities and functions. The President is the political head of the organisation with the responsibility to preside over NEC and NWC meetings, give overall political direction to the organisation and make pronouncements explaining the policy or attitude of the ANC on any question. The National Chairperson presides over the National Conference and is the custodian of its decisions. The Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General are full-time Officials whose responsibility is to coordinate and manage the overall work of the organisation on a day-to-day basis. They follow up on all decisions of the Officials, NWC and NEC and communicate with the constituent bodies of the movement and the outside world. They are principally responsible for the proper functioning of the Headquarters machinery, save for the departments falling directly under the President. The Treasurer General is the custodian of the funds and property of the ANC. Going forward, there is a need to strengthen coordination among these offices and address the challenge of carrying out these longstanding constitutional responsibilities in the context in which the movement is a ruling party.

Organisation and functioning of headquarters
Headquarters is the administrative nerve centre that houses the ANC's national infrastructure without which the movement will find it difficult to fulfill its primary mission. It coordinates, communicates and monitors the implementation of the National Conference resolutions, NEC decisions and the overall programme of national democratic transformation. In order to carry out these tasks effectively, it has to be organised properly and adequately resourced.

The Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General are the most senior managers at HQ as the full-time Officials responsible for overall organisational work. The rest of the NEC members deployed to HQ on a full-time basis are there to support the work of the Officials. The work of the Officials is coordinated by the SGO. The new conditions in which not all the Officials are based at Headquarters on a full-time basis necessitate a shift away from the current model in which different departments report to different Officials. The current model works well when all the Officials are based at Headquarters on a full-time basis, especially the President. When the SG and DSG are the only Officials deployed to coordinate and manage organisational work on a full-time basis, the current model has to be adapted to ensure that the SGO assumes overall political management responsibility over the entire Headquarters machinery, without changing the political roles and constitutional responsibilities of the different Officials. For purposes of improving accountability and proper coordination, all departments will therefore report to the SG and DSG on their day-to-day implementation of the programme of action. In addition, there should be a clearly defined delegation of responsibilities between the SG and DSG: this is something that should be agreed among these two cadres and taken to the Officials for ratification. The SGO therefore needs the requisite capacity to coordinate and manage the work of all the departments or units based HQ.

Further, there is a need to streamline the organisation of HQ into those core functions that are distinctively the responsibility of national structures. The work of HQ should be structured around the following departments and institutions of the ANC: a re-established Organising Department, the Political School, the Policy Institute, International Relations Department, Communications Department, Administration & Support Services Department and Treasury. All these departments and institutes, except Treasury which is headed by the Treasurer-General, and Administration, should be headed by full-time members of the NEC. In a case where the Treasurer-General is not full-time, both Treasury and Administration may be headed by people with the requisite technical and managerial skills.

THE ROLE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE LEAGUES
The ANCWL and ANCYL are very important organs of the ANC and sectoral mass formations of the movement whose objective is to mobilise women and youth respectively behind our vision and the programme of the national democratic revolution. They are an integral part of the ANC and operate in accordance with and are guided by the Strategy and Tactics, overall policies and programme as well as the principles, culture and values of the ANC. At the same time, the Leagues are autonomous structures with their own constitutions, programmes, resources and leadership collectives. This autonomy allows them space to creatively and critically define a role for themselves in the ANC and in society when it comes to dealing with the central questions of women's emancipation and youth development. In exercising their organisational autonomy, the Leagues have to constantly ensure that they stay within the bounds of ANC organisational culture and traditions, thus resisting the temptation to want to treat autonomy as if it is independence from the ANC. Similarly, the ANC structures need to resist the temptation to want to treat the Leagues as if they are departments or sub-committees of the ANC. Avoiding these two extremes is a challenge that both the ANC and the Leagues have to constantly strive to overcome.

ANC Women's League
The emancipation of women is one of the strategic objectives of the ANC. The task of the ANC Women's League is to place itself at the epicentre of the struggle for women's emancipation and gender equality, playing a leading role in advancing the rights of women in the ANC and in society and ensuring that women play a full role in the life of the movement and the nation as a whole. The League has the responsibility to vigorously campaign for the development and empowerment of women in social, cultural, economic, political and educational terms. The ANC has a crucial role to play in strengthening the Women's at all levels.

The Women's League has a committed and loyal membership amongst older, poor and working class women across the country, who identify with the history, symbolism and traditions of the Women's League. These women form the backbone of ANC branches and are the most consistent volunteers during mass campaigns. The local activists of the Women's League have played a key role in campaigns on issues such as poverty, crime and violence perpetrated against women and children, HIV/AIDS, etc. The League continues to champion the rights of women in the movement and in society and has recorded significant successes in the past seventeen years, including scoring major achievements on women representation in politics, the economy and other spheres and placing women's emancipation at the centre of the transformation agenda. The NGC resolution on 50/50 gender parity is a major leap forward in the road towards gender equality. Recently, the League has successfully led the launch of the Progressive Women's Movement of South Africa, an achievement of historic proportions. However, both the ANC and the Women's League face huge challenges that must be tackled in the run-up to its 60th Anniversary in 2008 and the Centenary of the ANC in 2012:


 * The ANC needs to strengthen its own work on dismantling patriarchy and transforming gender relations. The movement needs to do focused ideological work among its membership with the aim of changing the patriarchal mindset and practices and deepen theoretical, ideological clarity and practical commitment to genuine equality between men and women. The advances made on the 50/50 gender parity can only be sustained through systematic political education and development programmes attended by both women and men. Gender training and women's development must be one of the important areas of the curriculum of the ANC Political School.
 * Working with the ANC, the Women's League has to raise its level of organisation and build new capacities so that it can harness and give leadership to all women who are members and cadres of the ANC deployed and serving in various centres of power and fronts of struggle. This includes improving political and technical capacity to give leadership on gender issues in public discourse, monitor and evaluate the implementation of policy in government, provide training and critical support to women in various leadership positions, be at the spearhead of mass campaigns to address issues affecting grassroots women and playing a leadership role in the Alliance gender structures and the Progressive Women's Movement.
 * The League needs to build long term institutional and organisational capacity at all levels. This includes having full-time core support staff to deal with organisational and governance work. In the short term, the ANC needs to assist the League with meeting its core staffing needs. In the medium-to-long term, the Women's League needs to build its own financial self-sufficiency. Financial independence is crucial if the League is to succeed in playing a vanguard role in the struggle for women's emancipation. The ANC should provide guidelines which will ensure that all fundraising is done in a manner that is ethical and legal in order to protect the integrity of the movement.

ANC Youth League
The twin tasks of the Youth League remain that of mobilising the youth behind the ANC vision and championing their interests in the movement and in society. The League is a critical vehicle to ensure the youth make a full contribution to the life of the ANC and the nation. The League plays the unique role of being a preparatory school of young activists of our movement and provides youth political debates. Like all youth organisations of political parties and movement, it is a major source of organisational vibrancy and renewal. In this regard, their political development is a paramount responsibility of the ANC.

The social base of the Youth League is increasingly composed of young men and women who are growing up in a free and democratising society. The consciousness of these young people is shaped by the dynamics of a society in transition. And yet, the aspirations and ambitions of the young people, especially the black youth, are constrained by and trapped in the persisting legacy of apartheid colonialism. Over the past ten years, the Youth League has undertaken many creative initiatives around organising and representing young people in a democratic context. The League has also been very active in campaigns around issues affecting young people such as crime and HIV/AIDS, youth economic empowerment, transformation of sports and education. In terms of organisational rejuvenation, the League has been more successful in achieving a phenomenal growth in membership of half-a-million young people. However, as is the case with the ANC, the political and ideological depth of these members remain a big challenge. The League has tried to use its anniversaries and important days on our political calendar to educate the youth about the history of our struggle. The League plays a leadership role in the Progressive Youth Alliance and has good relations with other youth organisations in civil society. The Youth League is also very active in the international youth movement, advancing Africa's renaissance in various international forums and building international solidarity. It also gives leadership to the institutions of youth development such as the Youth Commissions and Umsobomvu Youth Fund, to ensure youth development is fast-tracked.

However, there are key challenges that need to be addressed by the ANC and the Youth League as we move towards the Centenary of the ANC:


 * The Youth League needs to continue to deepen its mass base among the young people, especially the black youth from working class and poor families. In addition, the League should strengthen its work among the different sectors of young people and ensure that it recruits the best and most talented among them. In particular, the League should work on strategies of attracting the most talented young people across all classes and strata, in all fields of human endeavour - politics, economy, the media, education, science and technology and sports, arts and culture and religion.
 * Among its principal campaigns, the League should prioritise the promotion of education, training and skills development of young people as one of its strategic areas of focus in the next decade. The development of our country's human resources is the most crucial issue in building a better future for all our people. This should be at the heart of our youth development strategy.
 * The Youth League needs to be assisted to build critical organisational capacities that will enable it to fulfill its role and meet obligations. Central to this is the need to have a core of staff and leadership that can focus on organisational work on a full-time basis. While the ANC will assist to the best of its ability, the Youth League needs to be encouraged to build its own independent resources so that it can have the possibility to implement its programme of action fully. The modalities of building long term self-financing of the League should be clarified as part of the discussion on "funding the movement", so that this is done ethically and legally.

ORGANISING VETERANS AND INTEGRATING EX-COMBATANTS INTO ANC STRUCTURES
Currently, we have been using the word "veteran" to describe four different 'categories' of ANC cadres:


 * **ANC veterans:** These are ANC members who are of advanced age and have given an uninterrupted and unbroken service to the movement over several decades of struggle. Some of these ANC veterans are former MK combatants and political prisoners. Others were part of the underground structures of the ANC throughout the three decades of illegality, working with the various structures of the legal mass organisations. Others served the movement in exile. All these comrades are veterans of the ANC in the true sense of the word. They are yet to be properly organised into a structure that is an integral part of the organisation;
 * **Ex-combatants of Umkhonto we Sizwe:** these are ANC members who joined MK at different points. They may be regarded as military veterans in a statutory sense. Some of them are members of MKMVA and others are not. Some of them belong to ANC branches, while others do not. The fact of the matter is that not all these comrades are ANC veterans. They need to be integrated into the branches as ordinary members of the ANC who have rights and obligations as per Rule 4 of the Constitution. Many who had the benefit of political education in the camps and prison can play an important role in strengthening branch, regional and provincial political education;
 * **Ex-political prisoners:** These are comrades who ended up in prison for political activities. Some of these comrades belonged to the ANC underground structures, while others belonged to MK and mass organisations. After release, some joined the non-partisan Ex-Political Prisoners Committee. Some among these comrades chose to stay out of the organisational structures, while others continued to participate. They need full integration into the branches as ordinary members who have rights and obligations. Like the other two categories, many of these comrades have benefited from political classes in prison and they can play a key role in strengthening branch, regional and provincial political education;
 * **Senior citizens:** These are ANC members of advanced age but who joined the ANC after its unbanning in the 1990s. Not all senior citizens qualify to be ANC veterans. While our structures and leadership collectives should pay special attention to and create an environment conducive for the participation of senior citizens in the political life of the movement, they cannot be accorded the same status as ANC veterans. These members need to be integrated fully in the mainstream of the organisation and given the respect and support they deserve as the elderly.

The 1994 National Conference instructed the NEC to investigate the possibility of setting up a Veterans' League of the ANC. This resolution was reaffirmed by the 1997 National Conference, with a further instruction that the NEC should establish, in the Office of the President and Provincial Chairpersons, a Standing Commission on Veterans. Several provinces have Commissions on Veterans that have been doing some work. However, veterans are not yet organised in a way that will ensure they make a positive input into the organisational and political work of the movement. The ANC has not paid adequate attention to the need to organise and utilise its veterans in the task of building a strong organisation and reproducing its culture and traditions. The veterans are a major organisational resource that must be preserved and taken care of. The movement has to organise and clarify the role and place of the veterans in the political life of the movement. Most of these comrades would bring a level of political experience and maturity much needed in the structures of the movement at the moment.

In terms of former combatants of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the MK Military Veterans' Association was established in the aftermath of the 1994 democratic breakthrough, to promote the history and heritage of MK and look after the welfare of former combatants. Since its establishment, MKMVA has been afflicted by serious problems. The situation has become worse in the past ten years. The problems revolve around competing structures and factions, and the battle over resources. As a result, the organisation is currently unable to adequately represent the interests of former MK combatants across the country. Shouldn't it be the responsibility of the state to take care of the welfare of former combatants from all military formations that existed before the 1994 democratic breakthrough? For organisational purposes, we should clarify the different categories of ex-combatants and work with MKMVA to fully integrate them into the branches where they will have rights and obligations like all other members of the ANC. Former MK members who qualify as veterans will need to be integrated into the Veterans' League. The question that needs to be answered is what role should MKMVA play in the future - at least ten years from now?


 * CHAPTER FOUR**


 * OVER-ARCHING ISSUES**

Over many years, especially since the early 1940s, the ANC came to place emphasis on the centrality of a cadre in the work of a revolutionary movement or party. When the struggle entered the highpoint of mass mobilisation and defiance campaigns in the 1950s, the development and preparation of volunteers assumed greater significance in the work of the movement. When the time came at the beginning of the 1960s to consider armed struggle and escalate international mobilisation against the racist apartheid regime, a new set of volunteers were identified, recruited, trained and deployed to carry out life threatening tasks. Political education and ideological training is also crucial in maintaining a culture of debating critical questions and nurturing a critical outlook among the membership. The question whether adequate attention is paid to the deliberate and systematic recruitment and preparation of cadres to meet the demands of each phase of struggle became a permanent feature of the debates at the ANC Conferences. Relations and interaction with other progressive movements and parties strengthened the ANC's resolve to place cadre policy at the centre of its internal reconstruction and revival. This culminated in the decision at the 1985 Kabwe Consultative Conference that the ANC should establish its own Political School.
 * POLITICAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING: BUILDING A NEW CADRE**

The experiences and demands of the past thirteen years of being a ruling party have placed urgency on the establishment of the ANC Political School. As correctly asserted by the 2000 NGC, the movement need to systematically focus on the deliberate recruitment, training and deployment of a New Cadre who is able to adapt to the demands and respond to imperatives of the post-1994 phase of struggle. Across the country, a great deal of effort is being made in implementing cadre development and political education programmes. As we have pointed out earlier, the main weakness is that this effort lacks a structure, measure of uniformity and a disciplined approach. At the level of content and curriculum, not enough attention is being paid to the importance of mass work and governance as the principal pillars of the current phase of struggle. Having learnt from the experiences of other parties, we should move with speed to establish the Political School as a key institution of the ANC that will ensure its survival, continuing relevance and sustainability. The veterans and stalwarts of our struggle will have a crucial role to play in imparting knowledge and sharing experiences with the students.

POLITICAL MANAGEMENT OF GOVERNANCE
As we have already pointed out, the ascendancy to power by the ANC has placed governance as one of the principal pillars of the current phase of our struggle. We have amassed enormous experience in the art of running the affairs of the state i.e. statecraft. Government office has given the movement an opportunity to serve the people in a manner that was not possible before. Our cadres have gained new skills and insights that are crucial to the success of the transformation agenda. However, the political management of the relationship between ANC structures and cadres deployed in the governance structures needs serious attention, going forward. The establishment of Caucuses and PCOs has placed new demands and imperatives on the organisational machinery of the ANC. The movement is much more resourced and better equipped to reach out to the people and serve them better.

However, much more needs to be done to achieve greater integration and coordination between the work of the ANC structures and governance work. This integration should be based on the principle that the ANC is the ultimate strategic centre of power that should lead all the efforts for progressive social change. In this regard, we should improve the capacity of the ANC collectives to hold cadres deployed in other centres power accountable. This includes improving the capacity of the ANC to give strategic leadership to cadres deployed in the state, the economy, in the arena for the battle of ideas and civil society.

The ANC needs to take steps to strengthen the Caucuses as critical instruments for robust oversight, mutual accountability, collective leadership and discipline among cadres deployed to government, parliament, legislatures and municipalities. Already, we have some of the best functioning Caucuses at different spheres of governance. There is no need to depart radically from the current model of Caucuses. What we need is to strengthen coordination and interface between the Caucuses and the ANC structures to give effect to the principle that the ANC is the ultimate strategic centre of power. The idea of autonomous parliamentary wings is not an attractive option for the ANC because it may have an unintended but inevitable consequence of shifting the centre of decision-making away from the leadership structures of the movement to cadres deployed in government institutions. In our context, this will have disastrous implications: to undermine the ability of the ANC to act as a unified and unifying force in society.

The deployment of cadres into various positions of responsibility and ensuring that these cadres are accountable to the movement and communities is a key area of the ANC's organisational work. We gained a wealth of experience in managing the deployment of cadres into government and legislatures at all levels, although the mechanisms of accountability and recall remain weak, if not completely non-existent. We have also not paid attention to the deployment and accountability of cadres to centres of power such as the economy, the arena for the battle of ideas and civil society. The singular focus on state power distorts the ANC's broader role as a leading force for progressive social change. We therefore need to ensure that our cadre policy and deployment strategy covers all fronts and centres of power. We should deploy cadres in a way that ensures that they gain exposure and experience in a wide range of fronts, including the organisation, economy, state and civil society. In this regard, there is also an urgent need to address the disparity in remuneration and working conditions between cadres deployed to do full-time organisational work and those deployed in other centres or fronts of struggle in the public and private sector. We need to consider the introduction of a framework of broad salary bands that cut across the entire public sector, and that also have articulation with the salaries within the movement. This will facilitate the deployment and redeployment of cadres.

The political management of the deployment process has to be reviewed so as to draw important lessons for the future. In terms of managing the deployment process, the key intervention must be to strengthen the political oversight role of the collective leadership of the ANC on matters of deployment. At the level of principle, the role of the ANC is to give policy direction and strategic political leadership to cadres deployed in government, while affording cadres deployed in positions of authority sufficient space to fulfill their obligations by organising themselves in the best way to facilitate the realisation of the party mandate. Across the world, this balance is elusive, resulting in two extremes of political management. On the one hand, there can be a temptation for the party structures to want to micro-manage governance institutions as if they are departments. On the other hand, cadres deployed in positions of government have a tendency towards maximising their own scope for decision-making, while reducing the role of the party to a bystander or manager of crises. Our political management model should strike a careful balance between these two extremes.

POLICY FORMULATION, MONITORING AND EVALUATION
Policy implementation is a critical area of work for any ruling party. Policy-making is one of the important functions of ANC structures. This process may begin in the branches or any other level and involves thousands of ordinary ANC members. The process also involves other sectors of society who have interest in building a more equal, humane and caring society. As a ruling party, we use government as a vehicle to implement our policies. The structures of the movement need capacity to continuously review and monitor the implementation of policy by those deployed to government and evaluate the impact of our policies on society.

Over the past ten years, the movement's policy capacity has been completely depleted. This has created a situation in which we are not able to track and monitor policy implementation, leading to a situation wherein the ANC depends entirely on government. Having understood the necessity to build its own capacity for policy monitoring and evaluation, the ANC has decided that there is a need to establish its own policy think tank, the Policy Institute. The Institute will coordinate research and work with various research institutions and individuals on policy analysis. The Institute will also serve as a centre to facilitate policy dialogue and public discourse on the macro-social dynamics thrown up by the emergent national democratic society.

The work of the NEC Sub-Committees such as the Policy Committee, ETC, STC and Legislature and Governance will be managed by the Institute. In turn, the Policy Institute will also be linked to and integrated into the physical infrastructure of the Political School. The successful establishment of these two ANC institutions will be a major advance towards building long term organisational capacity in a serious and sustainable manner. The Institute will also play a crucial role in the processes towards the development of the Election Manifestoes and the policy review process towards Policy Conferences and National General Councils.

THE PROCESS OF ELECTION OF LEADERSHIP
The document "Through the Eye of the Needle" outlines the ANC's principled approach to the selection and election of cadres who are given the responsibility to lead the structures of the movement at different levels. This document was developed in response to the challenges that have arisen from the new terrain of struggle. The growth of the ANC and its position as a ruling party have placed strains on the traditions and culture of the organisation, especially as it relates to dealing with the leadership questions. The document places emphasis on the fact that decisions on the calibre of cadres who lead the movement at each level or serve in the different spheres of government have to be based on a careful assessment of the challenges of the moment as well as a fair grasp of the key tasks of that specific front or centre of power to which a cadre is to be deployed. Through the internal democratic processes, individual cadres are assessed against the challenges and tasks facing the movement. In both cases, the branches are at the centre of the leadership election and selection of public representatives. While voting by delegates is a normal part of these processes, the ANC has come to place a high premium on building the broadest possible consensus on leadership questions. Such consensus is a product of genuine engagements and debates, and not imposed on delegates. "Through the Eye of the Needle" has helped a great deal in restoring a culture of discussing leadership questions openly in the organisation in order to clarify the principled approach of the movement.

However, many challenges remain. Across the organisation and the broad democratic movement, there is a growing tendency to carry out dirty character assassination and dissemination of lies about other comrades has reached uncontrollable proportions. Discussions on leadership tend to assume greater significance in our conferences than the debates on strategy, policy and programme of transformation. In some of our structures, principles outlined in the document "Through the Eye of the Needle" are either ignored, flouted or twisted when the pitched battles for leadership reach feverish proportions. At times, our structures neglect their responsibility to scrutinise fully whether those being proposed for leadership satisfy the core criteria set out in our documents. The battle for access to power and resources is becoming the primary driving force behind most of our conferences and list processes. The factional and sectarian mobilisation that precedes some of the conferences of the ANC and other democratic movement formations undermines the very democratic culture and revolutionary traditions of the Congress movement.

The current practice within the organisation is that ANC leadership collectives at all levels, including officials, are elected at the relevant Conference. The procedures by which these elections take place are outlined in the ANC Constitution. The process of nominations begins in branches a few months before Conference. However, the experience of the past few years suggest that the entire process needs to be strengthened to ensure that the best cadres are elcted to lead the movement. What areas need to be strengthened?

The ANC's candidates for national, provincial and local elections are selected through an internal list process in the months preceding the relevant election. In this case too, the nominations process begins within ANC branches. The question that needs to be posed is whether these approaches will serve the organisation into the future, particularly as it relates to the selection of candidates for President of the Republic, Premiers and Mayors.

POLITICAL COMMUNICATIONS AND WORK IN THE ARENA OF THE BATTLE OF IDEAS
Over the years, the ANC has recognised the centrality of the battle of ideas in the struggle to rid our country of apartheid colonialism and replace it with a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society. It has sought to build its own capacity to communicate with the masses and disseminate its own views and perspectives to the people as part and parcel of its strategy for mass mobilisation and political education. From the early days, it developed good relations with media organisations and influential journalists who were sympathetic to the cause of the people's struggle for freedom. Later in the years when the struggle reached a highpoint, it developed a capacity to communicate directly with the people through its own communication instruments such as pamphlets, posters, journals and a radio station (Radio Freedom). These instruments played a crucial role in the mobilisation of the people against the evil system of apartheid.

Since 1994, we have continued to emphasise the important role of communication during this new phase of struggle. We have put in place policies to help transform the media and communication landscape and strengthen the public media institutions, as a critical condition for the thriving of a vibrant democracy. At an organisational level, we have continued to grapple with the challenge of building organisational capacity at all levels so that the ANC can be able to have direct, unmediated communication with the people. The introduction of ANC Today has been a major step towards building the capacity of the ANC to convey its own ideas and views and engage effectively in public discourse through various public forums and platforms.

However, many challenges remain with regard to the capacity of the movement to engage vigorously in the battles of ideas. We have weaknesses in communicating rapidly and consistently with ANC members and society in general on issues of national and global importance. Direct interaction with the membership and the masses to clarify our decisions and policy positions is only periodic, limited to high profile campaigns such as the election. There is no focused attention on the training, development and deployment of cadres who will carry out our ideological work. Our base structures, the branches and regions, have no dedicated communication capacity to enable them to take full advantage of the exponential growth of the community media sector.

INTERNATIONAL WORK AND PARTY-TO-PARTY RELATIONS
As already pointed out, internationalism is a crucial feature in the unique character of the ANC. Inspired by the spirit of ubuntu and ideals of human solidarity, the movement became part of the global progressive forces that fought against colonialism, racism, poverty, patriarchy and other social ills. Its founders defined the movement as the great unifier and premier representative of the African people beyond the borders of South Africa. This led to the setting up of Congress organisations in the different countries of Southern Africa. The leadership of the movement also sought to highlight the problem of colonialism in the highest international forums of the time. By the First World War into the subsequent decades, the movement had established fraternal relations with many progressive forces in the world. This work was taken to a new level after the banning of the people's organisations in 1960 when OR Tambo was sent out of the country to go and set up an external mission. The external mission was able, over thirty years, to build solid diplomatic relations and coordinate international mobilisation against apartheid, resulting in the growth of the Anti-Apartheid Movement as one of the world's biggest solidarity movements of the 20th century. The international front was one of the key pillars of the struggle that led to the ultimate defeat of the apartheid regime in 1994.

Over the past thirteen years, the movement has faced a serious challenge in terms of building, consolidating and expanding new and old party-to-party relations. The growing significance of South Africa in global affairs has also put more pressure on the structures of the movement. There are many parties and governments who want to maintain party-to-party relations with the ANC as the ruling party of our country. In the continent, we face huge demands as the work around the Renaissance of Africa begins to bear positive results. However, we continue to struggle in terms of being organised in a manner that takes full advantage of the new global conditions. In the next five years, we need to find creative ways of linking up with ANC cadres deployed in the diplomatic arena. This is an area in which some of the movement's best cadres are deployed. There is a need for the ANC to take steps and ensure that young people are systematically recruited, trained and deployed into the diplomatic arena where they will gain experience and come to serve our people in various capacities. If properly organised, the movement can tap into the vast experiences and knowledge of these cadres in its party-to-party relations and political education.

ELECTION CAMPAIGNS
Contesting elections is an important task of political parties in democratic societies. Winning and retaining state power is a pre-occupation of most political parties. The difference is that progressive parties or movements want to use power to change society and improve the quality of life of the most vulnerable sections of society, particularly the poor, working people and women. Building capacity to run a successful election campaign is one of the key organisational tasks of progressive parties and movements that operate in a democratic terrain. This task includes the selection, training and deployment of cadres to be the public representatives who are accountable to the movement and the people as whole. Preparing for elections is part of the daily work of political parties, regardless of how far away the next election may seem to be.

One of the major challenges of the period between 1990 and 1994 is that the movement had to re-establish itself as a legal mass organisation, at the same time preparing to contest the first democratic elections in April 1994. This took place in a very hostile environment in which the regime was negotiating with the representatives of the people on the one hand, while state-sponsored violence was ravaging townships and villages in the then Natal and Transvaal. The violent activities of the third force made the task of re-establishing legal mass-based structures of the ANC very challenging. The transition to a legal mass movement that would be ready to contest elections whenever they take place was made more difficult when, after the leadership of the movement took the correct decision to suspend armed struggle, there was an escalation of violent attacks of defenseless people by balaclava-clad agents of the security forces. The regime's low intensity warfare had an impact on the setting up of the ANC's organisational structures. The movement was very strategic in relying largely on mass mobilisation to pressurise the regime and speed up the process towards the democratic elections. By the time a formal agreement was reached about the date of the first democratic elections, the ANC had already established rudimentary election structures with capacity to conduct election research.

In the past thirteen years, we have contested three national elections and three local government elections. Our movement has gained an enormous organisational experience in campaign craft (i.e. the art of managing and running election campaigns). Campaign work has enriched our ability to mobilise different classes and strata behind our vision for a better life. We have also built a huge machinery of volunteers who, through door-to-work, are mastering the art of interacting with communities at household level. The Imvuselelo Campaign seeks to build on this experience and ensure that mass work is sustained beyond elections. The ANC campaigns have been characterised by continuous innovation and improvement from one election to another. We must continue to encourage innovation in campaign craft across the different levels of the organisation, especially at a ward-level so that our branch campaign structures can respond to specific issues affecting their local communities.

DISCIPLINE AND ETHICAL CONDUCT
Discipline plays a central role in the success of organisations. Discipline refers to the way in which the organisation and its members conduct themselves. The values, morality, methods and style of work of members of an organisation are crucial to the lives of organisations. They can facilitate or hamper the ability of the organisation to realise its vision and strategic objectives. Organisational discipline revolves around behaviour and conduct that is consistent with and takes forward the vision, values, principles and strategic objectives of an organisation. Discipline is regulated through rules or a code that must be observed by all members of the organisation. A cadre is characterised by a high level of self-discipline and political consciousness. Self-criticism and constructive criticism is part and parcel of political discipline.

The ANC places high premium on political discipline because the moral and ethical conduct of its members and leaders enhances its ability to serve the interests of the people. The level of discipline among members contributes significantly to the maintenance of unity and safeguarding the revolutionary culture and traditions of the movement under changing contexts and conditions. The ANC's principled approach to disciplinary violations is corrective and seeks to "cure the sickness to save the patient". Expulsion is the last resort applied in very serious cases and it is often reserved for the most incorrigible in our ranks.

The mass entry of thousands of our people into the ranks of the movement in the period after the unbanning presented serious challenges that have multiplied after the coming into power in 1994. Most violations of organisational discipline revolve around the factional battles for positions and access to resources. The democratic terrain puts serious obligations on all ANC members to observe and uphold the laws of our land. Access to power also creates possibilities for corruption and abuse of power by some among our own cadres. Factionalism, careerism, corruption and patronage pose a threat to the survival of the movement and we need to strengthen the capacity of structures of our movement to detect, prevent and combat these maladies in our ranks.

ORGANISATIONAL MANAGEMENT
All the previous organisational review and design reports of the past thirteen years have raised a common concern about the antiquated manner in which the ANC deals with the management function within the organisation, particularly as it pertains to human resource management. The ANC has been moving forward and backward on matters of putting in place proper management systems that will ensure that all those who are full-time employees of the organisation work in an environment that will enable them to give out the best energy and intellect towards achieving the strategic objectives of the movement. At times, the human resource policies and practices come into conflict with the kind of society we seek to create. Our management and administrative systems do not resemble those of a party that runs a sophisticated machinery of a modern state. We lack management capability and focus to ensure that the employees and cadres deployed to work full-time in the organisation are accountable and deliver on their mandate.

In the past few years, the state and capacity of regional, provincial and HQ has been deteriorating as staff members who leave the employ of the movement can't be replaced, due to the financial difficulties in the organisation. The organisational design and staffing of our offices is not based on the role and functions expected of these offices. As some of the most talented and productive staff and cadres deployed to work full-time in the organisation leave for "greener pastures", we increasingly run the risk that the ANC full-time machinery will become replete with a lot of uninspired and mediocre staff, with a perennially low morale. This danger looms large because we are not able to replenish and replace those who leave. At the same time, there is no training and development for those who stay. This internal situation contrasts radically with the overwhelming confidence our movement enjoys among the people.

The situation described above creates a huge burden for the SGO and Provincial Secretaries. As cadres elected to run the movement on a full-time basis, they have political responsibilities - coordinating and communicating with constitutional structures, deployment of leadership to various tasks, follow-up on the decisions of leadership collectives, dealing with various organisational problems and attending to governance issues, etc. Without a core of full-time staff who have political-strategic and managerial capacity to support those elected to do full-time organisational work at HQ, provincial and regional offices, the organisational performance of the ANC will be undermined. We need a major turnaround strategy to halt and radically reverse the current approach to managing our human resources.

FUNDING THE MOVEMENT
The funding of the activities of an organisation is one of the principal questions that must be answered by the entire membership of that organisation. It is the primary responsibility of any loyal member of an organisation to help the organisation to fund its programmes. To belong means to give your time, energy and resources to the cause. The reason members pay subscriptions and make donations to their organisations is to enable them to meet their stated objectives. The financial viability of a party or movement should be a fundamental concern of all its members. Parties also depend on the private donations of individuals or groups who support their cause and this is perfectly legitimate in democratic societies.

The ANC would not have evolved and survived into the giant movement it is today if it was not for the political, financial, material and spiritual support of ordinary South Africans during its formative years. Finances use to be one of the main criteria for assessing the strength of branches and provinces in the decades before the banning of the movement in 1960. During the difficult decades of illegality, the movement developed an approach that integrated mobilisation of financial resources into its overall political and organisational work, building a vast network of international friends who were willing to assist the movement in meeting its basic needs.

After the dawn of democracy, we have experienced major challenges on the sustainable funding of the movement. This has often forced us to adopt organisational restructuring measures that are dictated to by financial difficulties rather than political and strategic considerations. The whittling down of full-time organisational capacity at different levels of the movement is a case in point. What gives rise to this situation is that the movement is not taking collective responsibility on confronting the challenges we face on this matter. We need to deal with the funding of the movement in a more decisive and transparent manner as we move forward.

As a matter of policy, the ANC needs to approach the public and private funding of political parties as a fundamental question that has a long term bearing on sustainability of democracy and the safeguard of public interest. Democracy rests on the quality of both direct citizen participation and their representation in the political process. Political parties are critical institutions in this regard. Their viability and vulnerability is a matter of public interest. It is for this reason that public funding of representative political parties has become a critical issue in many democratic societies. Otherwise, the private interest of powerful financial oligarchs can have undue influence on ruling parties, with adverse consequences for the interests of the poor and marginalised sections of society. In this regard, public funding of representative political parties and civil society groups is a cost that no vibrant democracy can avoid. Public funding can cover a wide range of areas such campaign financing, policy grants, subsidies for political education and training of public representatives and core funding of full-time party staff, There are strict accounting procedures and rules applicable to all public funds.


 * CHAPTER FIVE**

From the formative years of its existence, the ANC came to the recognition that the struggle for fundamental social change in South Africa is a huge undertaking that requires the mobilisation of the broadest range of classes and strata that objectively stand to gain from and have the capacity collectively to bring about such change. Our Strategy and Tactics identifies the Africans in particular and Blacks in general - black workers, the black middle strata and the rising black bourgeoisie - as the core motive forces for change. How do the interests of the motive forces find organisational expression?
 * THE FUNCTIONING OF THE ALLIANCE, MDM AND RELATIONS WITH CIVIL SOCIETY**

Historically, there have been three streams of the of the national liberation struggle in our country - the revolutionary democratic, the socialist and the trade union movements - have found common cause in pursuit of the objectives of the NDR. This unity is given organisational expression in the form of the Alliance between the ANC, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). During the course of the 1990s, the civic movement became the fourth stream, without much theorisation of this development. What brings the three (or are they now four) streams of the Alliance together?

Ours is a strategic alliance founded on a shared vision and common programme of transforming South Africa into a truly non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society as espoused in the Freedom Charter. This vision and programme have been developed collectively and campaigned for over many years. The black working class has earned a central and leading position in the struggle for the realisation of our common vision and programme. Accordingly, the interests of the black workers and the landless rural masses occupy the centre stage of the Alliance. The Alliance is made up of separate organisations, with their own identities and decision-making processes that give them the right to make their own analysis and come to their own conclusions on various matters. However, there is profound inter-dependence and organic interconnection among the alliance partners which dictate the natural instinct of each component is to defend rather attack each other. This is the essence of class analysis: knowing, at all times, who is on the same side as you are and not treat your friends as if they are your enemies. Firstly, black workers - employed and unemployed, rural and urban - constitute a common constituency of the Alliance structures. In addition, the Alliance partners also have a common theoretical and practical heritage on matters pertaining to the South African revolution. This is a major source of strength of the Alliance: being separate organisations but acting together as one entity on major issues.

The ascendancy to political power by the leader of the Alliance has introduced a new context and new challenges for the Alliance partners. While the strategic purpose of the Alliance remains relevant, the post-1994 political landscape has posed serious tactical and organisational challenges for all components of the Alliance. Each organisation has been grappling with defining a role for itself in the context in which the ANC is both a liberation movement and a ruling party. Some Alliance partners have, too easily, fallen into a habit of blaming the ANC for all their own internal problems such as pervasive factional divisions and creeping careerism. The ANC's internal weaknesses are exaggerated and its state of affairs is caricatured: a completely inaccurate picture is being painted by some of our allies that our movement has ceased to be a people's movement and an agent for change. In so doing, organisations of the Alliance have denied themselves an opportunity to reflect courageously on the impact of the post-1994 situation on their own organizations. Individually and collectively, the Alliance partners have to face up to the reality that the global and national context of the NDR has changed dramatically in the past seventeen years and this change is continuing at a rapid pace. Going forward, the Alliance needs a common strategic agenda for organisational renewal. This is the common challenge from which our generation cannot escape.

With regard to the management of governance, much heat has been generated about the role of other Alliance partners in this process. Certainly, our allies feel their role is inadequate and unsatisfactory. It is important to note that the ANC governs on the basis of a manifesto and policies decided by its conferences and other relevant bodies. The Alliance structures participate in the formulation of both our policies and electoral platform. Given the separate identity of each alliance partner, the policy positions and stances in relation to matters of immediate concern, can be expected to differ, even though we remain committed to a common programme of social transformation. In order to ensure that such differences are properly managed, it is critical that the process of policy development and implementation is informed on an ongoing basis by collective endeavor. Going forward, there is a need to improve the collective input of the Alliance on the governance process in general and policy formulation and implementation in particular. The ANC is open to new ideas on how we can ensure that the common aspirations of our allies find expression in the governance process, while ensuring that the ANC takes ultimate political responsibility as the leader of the national democratic revolution and the legitimately elected ruling party of our country. This is the principle that must underpin the debate on this issue, whatever mechanisms we agree upon.

The ANC needs to debate and take a view on a number of issues facing other Alliance partners. For instance, what is our attitude to COSATU's proposal on the Alliance Pact/Minimum Platform and the SACP's "State Power" debate? What role should SANCO play in the current phase of struggle and how does this role find organisational expression in the Alliance, civil society and in the community? These issues have significant strategic implications on the Alliance and the ANC itself and far-reaching consequences for the national democratic revolution.

In addition, the ANC remains convinced that the current mechanism of interaction and coordination need to be strengthened to maintain the unity in action of the Alliance:


 * **Alliance Secretariat:** The Secretariat of the Alliance is composed of the Secretary-Generals of the ANC, SACP, COSATU and SANCO. When necessary the secretariat will draw in participation from other organisations such as ANCYL, ANCWL, and YCL. The secretariat meets every two weeks to coordinate the implementation of the Alliance programme and addresses other issues that may arise from time to time.
 * **Alliance Office Bearers and Ten-Aside:** The most senior leadership (i.e. officials/national office bearers) of each Alliance partner should participate in the ten-a-side. The primary purpose of the ten-a-side is to address policy matters of importance to the Alliance partners. The ten-a-side should meet each quarter for a full day to consider a specific policy matter advanced by the Secretariat.
 * **Alliance Summit:** The Alliance summit will be held toward the end of each year in order to engage on policy issues, particularly those considered by the ten-a-side, review the implementation of this programme and plan for the following year.
 * **Provincial, Regional/District and local structures:** At provincial level it is expected that a similar format of implementation and engagement mechanisms. Alliance structures should be replicated at regional (i.e. municipality) and local level (i.e. branch/ward). These structures need a common programme of action in communities and regions to build a better life for all our people. They need to have a collective approach to issues such as ward committees and IDP process and other local campaigns around schooling, healthcare and crime.

THE RELATIONSHIP WITH MDM STRUCTURES AND CIVIL SOCIETY
In line with its responsibility to lead the motive forces of change, the ANC will continue to encourage the formation of, and to work within, progressive civil society: organisations of communities, students, youth women, people with disability, traditional leaders, business and other non-governmental and community based organisations. It must also reach out to religious and other institutions to ensure common approaches to challenges of transformation.

In actual struggle, many issues need to be attended to in very specific terms. This in part gives rise to social movements that are issue-based, many of which pursue interests of communities. However, the positions of some of these movements may not necessarily coincide with those of the other motive forces, their understanding of the relationship between the sectoral and the general may not be optimal, and some of their tactics may not necessarily be along the general line of march of the liberation movement.

As the leader of the national democratic revolution, the ANC also has to engage other sectoral formations of the motive forces such as student organisations, religious organisations, sports and cultural organisations, etc. The movement has to find creative ways of giving leadership to various organs of civil society. This requires theoretical acumen, leadership skills and organisational capacity. The ANC will conduct mass work taking into account dynamic changes taking place in the social structure of South Africa.


 * CHAPTER SIX**


 * PROPOSALS ON ORGANISATIONAL RENEWAL: TOWARDS 2012**

We need to emphasise the role of the branch in recruitment in accordance with Rule 4 in the ANC Constitution. One of the important tasks of the branch is to ensure that all members have gone through induction and basic political education on the ANC and give each member specific tasks and monitor their participation. Another important responsibility of the branch is to keep accurate membership records. The leadership of the branch has to know each and every member, including where they live, what they do to earn a living, their socio-economic profile and their area of strength and the amount of organisational work they are able to do in a month. Applicants for membership have to present themselves physically to the branch once they have filled in and signed the membership form. This will help to stem out fraudulent recruitment practices. These measures will improve quality and raise the level of political consciousness and ideological depth among the membership.
 * MEMBERSHIP**

We also need to improve the quantity of the membership simultaneously as we deal with its quality. We propose that the movement needs to turn at least 10% of its voters and supporters into active members by the time of its Centenary. This means having 1 million members by 2012. This is a target set by the 1942 National Conference for the whole of southern Africa, which was never met. We believe this is a realistic target, taking into account the growth in all provinces during Imvuselelo Campaign last year.

We need to undertake regular studies on the profile and perspectives of the ANC members so that we can accurately identify the trends in our membership. Anecdotally, the indication is that women and youth constitute the majority of active members of the organisation. In terms of the national question, there are varying degrees of success across provinces with regard to making the ANC a home for all.

The ANC needs to develop a comprehensive recruitment strategy that will ensure that we reflect the best among the South African people: motive forces, national diversity and advanced productive forces. Targeted Recruitment Teams at need to be established and trained in the movement's approach to recruitment.

The NEC should discuss and adopt Rules and regulations that will guide the membership verification and auditing process, with clear roles and responsibilities for the branch, region, province and HQ. This should include setting up membership audit teams at all levels. This is a crucial issue that has caused serious problems in our structures, especially in the run-up to conferences.

In terms of the administration of the membership system, we need to address all technical and administrative problems that have beset the ANC since its unbanning:


 * Ensure we eliminate gate-keeping and fraudulent practices;
 * Decentralise the system to levels closer to the membership and ensure that, for once, we put in place an infrastructure that will fast-track the capturing of data and issuing of membership cards within a time frame stipulated by the Constitution i.e. eight weeks;
 * Ensure that the membership system we put in place can serve as a reliable mechanism to audit and verify membership and therefore produce an efficient registration system and certified credentials for conferences and general councils;
 * Ensure the system can give regular reports on the membership size and the profile of members joining the movement.

The ANC needs to find creative ways of reaching out to and servicing its supporters regularly. These are people who support, in varying degrees, the aims and objectives and policies of the movement but have, for one reason or the other, decided not to take up membership of the organisation. We should do active political work among such people in every ward and understand and take up their concerns and issues. It is among our supporters that we should seek to actively recruit the best in society. Members who are not able to live up to the organisational expectations of activism should be encouraged to convert to supporters. A vibrant and loyal support base is crucial for any political, social or business organisation: these are the people who influence others in their families, communities and workplaces towards the organisation of their choice. We may also need to think of developing a form of identity for supporters that is distinct from the membership.

BRANCHES
Intensify branch work in each community through the Imvuselelo Campaign: Having slowly but steadily moved more of our branches closer to the possibility for them to act increasingly as the vanguard of their communities, agents for change and loyal servants of the people, we now need to consolidate the ward-based branch and ensure sustainable mass work to respond to development challenges in each ward.

Make branches the focus of political and ideological work of senior leadership and cadreship of the movement: As we move to the Centenary of the ANC, the building and strengthening of branches needs to be the number one priority of the ANC. All cadres of the movement, including national leadership, need to ensure that they pay particular attention to branch work. This includes the need to make time to participate in the branches where they live. REC, PEC and NEC members need to be deployed not only to regions and provinces. They should also be allocated a reasonable number of branches, in a year, with which they should work to build and improve the capacity of the movement to serve the people and keep them mobilised and active in the struggle for a better life. There is an urgent need to introduce a nationally-driven branch political education programme that must be implemented in a disciplined manner across the country. This programme should include training on organisational skills - how to draw a plan of action and run a campaign in a locality. The Imvuselelo Handbook and the Branch Manual should be used consistently to train our local activists and make our grassroots structures adopt a permanent campaign mode.

Allocate resources to support branch work: There is a dire need to allocate basic resources to all branches so that they can be in a position to carry out the many important tasks expected of them. As decided by the Second NGC, 100% of the membership fees should be reallocated to branches to sustain their programmes. Each branch will be expected to operate a branch account. Training on fundraising and financial management needs to be introduced in all branches so that they can raise more resources to fund their activities and manage finances in a manner consistent with ANC financial policies and procedures. This will also help branches to set up operations centres from where the branch will plan and execute its programme of action.

Extend the term of office of the BEC: ANC branches spend a disproportionate amount of time organising AGMs instead of paying greater attention to the issues of the people in their localities. While branches need to continue to convene Annual General Meetings where members will be able to evaluate the performance of the branch and address areas of weakness, it is proposed that the term of office of the BEC should be increased to either two or more years.

Setting up of special branches: The issue of branches in areas of low support for the ANC needs further attention. The constitution allows the PEC to recognise branches with less than 100 members in special circumstances [Rule 23.2 (a)]. The circumstances are left unspecified but an understanding exists that this applies mostly to wards where we have little support or where there are few voters. The present clause is vague and leaves a lot of room for different interpretations by PECs. No grounds for appeal exist for branches who may want to challenge a PEC decision. This should be tightened.

Setting up units: The Constitution also allows for branches to be further demarcated into units as administrative and coordinating structures in large wards, or where other special circumstances exist [Rule 23.2 (e)]. This clause is also used in some provinces to set up units in branches with large membership numbers or in branches with tertiary institutions in their area. These units can also focus on organising workplaces and ensure that workers join the ANC where they live. Units can also be established at the level of a Voting District to enhance coordination of ANC campaign activities and interaction with households. Units may also be established to coordinate ANC work in different sections, blocks, suburbs or villages in a ward. They do not have decision-making powers. Where there are units, their coordinators should be invited to BEC meetings to give reports and ensure smooth coordination. Further guidelines are needed on the relationship between the BEC and units to ensure accountability.

Encourage sharing of experiences on good practice: The movement should encourage branches to learn from each other and support one another on major organisational programmes. We should promote study tours and visits by branches, even across provinces, wherein comrades come together to share experiences on how to deal with particular organisational challenges. For instance, the PEC or REC can organise a workshop in which comrades from the best organised suburban branch can come and share experiences on how to run a successful campaign in a suburb or vast rural ward. The same can be done to promote best practice on branch political education, recruitment and setting up operational centres where it is difficult to have a branch office. In this way, the ANC will learn much more from itself than is the case at the moment.

The naming of branches: The practice of naming branches after the heroes and heroines of our struggle has been one of the positive developments since the unbanning of the movement. With the realignment process in 2001, many branches have been renamed. This process has gained momentum since the introduction of the award system. The main problem is that the renaming process is not properly regulated, thus resulting in a situation in which there are branches with the same name across the different provinces. Before a particular name is adopted, there should be extensive discussions in the branch about the proposed name and its significance in our history. The NEC should adopt clear guidelines on the naming process.

Quorum: The current quorum of 50% plus one should be retained. This is consistent with the principle that major decisions of the movement should be made by the majority in each structure. Branches will have to maintain better contact with the membership and service and involve them regularly to ensure that they are part of meetings when they are needed. The temptation to want to reduce the quorum is very easy in cases where the membership is inactive, uninformed and uninvolved in the political life of the branches. In actual fact, such members are ghost members who do not meet the obligations stipulated in the Constitution.

SUB-REGIONS
The key issue for debate is whether the sub-regional committee should have political authority and oversight responsibility on a B municipality or the current status quo should remain. If we opt for the former, political management and interface with the mayor, speaker and chief whip will become an important area of the sub-regional leadership. Currently, most of this political management resides with the REC. If sub-regions have more authority over local municipalities, the election of sub-regional committees should take place at a meeting of all BECs in the sub-region. The following options are put as to the composition of the sub-region:


 * **Option 1:** Coordinating role: If the prevailing view is that the sub-region should play only a coordinating role, the responsibility to supervise and direct the work of the ANC remains with the REC. The sub-regional committee should then consist of at least an elected chairperson, secretary and organising secretary, the secretary and chairperson of each BEC and two representatives from the Women's League and Youth League, respectively. REC deployees and MP/Ls should attend meetings. The sub-regional PCO organiser and administrator should be part of the committee to provide administrative and organisational support to the elected leadership.
 * **Option 2:** Overseeing and directing the work of the ANC in the sub-region: Should this be the prevailing view, the sub-regional committee will have a more significant organisational role. This will require a more formal structure to be put in place. It is proposed that a sub-regional executive committee of at least five directly-elected members should be elected to run the affairs of the sub-region, composed of the chairperson, secretary, treasurer, organising secretary and political education secretary. The branch chairperson or secretary and one representative from each of the Leagues, should serve ex-officio on the committee. MP/Ls and the PCO organiser and administrator can attend the committee meetings. The sub-regional chair and secretary should serve as ex-officio members of the REC.

REGIONS
It is proposed that the core functions and principal tasks of the REC should centre around organisation-building, mass mobilisation, political education for branches and oversight on municipal governance and service delivery. These are the areas in which every region needs to organise its structures and direct all its resources. Every region should at least have sub-committees and teams that focus mainly on these three areas. We therefore need to establish three departments in each regional Office around which the bulk of the REC's work and resources should be directed: Organising & Mass Mobilisation, Political Education & Training and Policy & Governance. This poses a challenge around developing the capacity and competency of all REC members in these three areas. In addition, all regions should have some basic human and financial resources to run smoothly: full-time regional secretary, organiser, administrator and a membership officer. The operational centre of the region should be the Regional PCO, which will, among other tasks, coordinate local PCOs.

In this regard, the RECs should be allowed more flexibility and space for creativity with regard to the kind of sub-structures that will be relevant for carrying out these three core functions. One-size-fits-all formulae are not the way to go. We should discourage regions from duplicating the provincial and national sub-committees and encourage more innovation and creativity.

In terms of the specific role of the REC, the decision on the sub-regions will have an impact on their current role. If the sub-region assumes greater political responsibility in the local municipality and branches, the REC's composition may need to be reviewed to include the chair and secretary of each sub-region as ex officio members. The role of the REC in the district also depends on the future role of district councils - if district municipalities are done away with at any stage, the ANC will have to review the role of regions.

Over a five year period, the administration of the membership system should be decentralised to levels closer to the membership. This will facilitate easier access by branches to membership records and production of cards. However, strict guidelines and standards should be established by the national structures to ensure that there is no fraud and corruption. The role of the provincial and national structures should be to ensure quality control by conducting training and periodic membership audits and inspection of membership cards.

Regions need a more predictable and stable source of income if they are to fulfill their core functions and principal tasks. It is proposed that all councillors' levies should be directed towards financing the three core functions of the REC. This will be augmented by regional fundraising initiatives.

PROVINCES
All provinces should build strategic capacity to carry out Organisation-Building and Mobilisation work, Political Education and Training, and Political Management of Governance. In terms of organisational work, the focus of the PEC should be on strengthening and supporting branch work, instead of spending a disproportionate amount of time in REC and RGC meetings. Each province should re-establish three departments or units that are crucial to their work: Organising and Campaigns, Political Education and Training, and Policy and Governance. Full-time complement: As the only full-time Official of the PEC, the Provincial Secretary's responsibility is to manage the day-to-day running of the organisation in the province. This includes ensuring proper coordination and effective communication across all structures, political management of governance and overall implementation of the programme of action. For this, the Secretary is accountable to Officials, PWC and PEC. We must work towards achieving the ideal model in which the Provincial Office has the following people as the basic full-time staff: Organising Secretary, Secretary for Political Education and Training, Policy Coordinator, Communication Officer and Administrator. In addition, there is a need to strengthen the capacity of the Offices of the Provincial Secretaries to enhance coordination, communication and political management of governance. It is proposed that a Provincial Manager be deployed in the Office of the Provincial Secretary to strengthen this provincial nerve-centre for political management, coordination and communication.

Deployment to branches: In order to improve branch work, all PEC members should be allocated branches and sectors with whom they will work. Their performance should be assessed in accordance with the progress of such branches and the impact of the ANC in the sectors in which they are deployed. In order to improve interaction between the PEC, the RECs and branches and various sectors of civil society and the motive forces, PECs and PWCs should conduct regular visits to and hold joint meetings with RECs, branches and organisations representing different sectors. With regard to governance, it is proposed that uniform protocols should be adopted to guide the relationship between the provincial leadership and cadres deployed in government. A monitoring and evaluation mechanism should be introduced to help track policy implementation. Lastly, the provincial leadership, especially the Officials, should be afforded space to make an input on the deployment of Premiers and MECs.

Funding: It is proposed that all provinces should take steps to ensure that, by the Centenary of the ANC, they are financially viable and self-sustaining. Although Headquarters should continue to finance the salary bill of the core political and strategic staff in the provinces and regions, there is a dire need for provinces to move to a point wherein they can fully finance their own campaigns and administrative overheads, including the cost of employing additional staff. This will be guided by proper human resource policies and fundraising protocols that will safeguard the integrity and moral standing of the ANC. As a start, it is proposed that the levies of Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPLs) be channelled back to provinces to enable them to fund their own programmes. More funding should also be sourced from legitimate private and public funding of political parties represented in the Legislatures as part of strengthening democracy.

NATIONAL STRUCTURES
The manner in which the NEC carries out its political and organisational work: The prime time of NEC members is spent in one type of meeting or the other. The NEC members need to dedicate time to do mass and sectoral work. We need a new approach to the deployment of NEC members when it comes to organisational and political work. Members should be assigned, on an annual basis, to a specific number of branches in the province and deployed to a sector to work with. Their role in branches is to support the work of the BECs, not to take over. This will ensure that NEC members make a lasting impact on sectoral and branch work. Currently, most NEC members are too content merely to attend regional and provincial meetings and thereafter go home!

The NEC sub-committees have not given organisational expression to the role of the ANC as both a liberation movement and the ruling party. Sub-committees are not succeeding in being the key mechanisms for monitoring and supporting the implementation of policy and programmes. They are also not drawing cadres from diverse experiences and centres of power into their work. Very often, sub-committees are convened by NEC members who are ministers with the same line function responsibilities, thus making it difficult for the sub-committee to make its own critical review of policy implementation in that sector. When deploying convenors of NEC Sub-committees, we should ensure that members who are ministers or deputy ministers are not deployed to convene the sub-committee that oversees their line function department in government. This will make it easier for sub-committees to monitor and ensure accountability of government departments on ANC policy.

The size and composition of the NEC needs to be reviewed with the following objectives in mind:


 * Firstly, a possibility of increasing the size of the NEC to ensure that there are more members to meet the demands arising from provincial and sectoral deployments;
 * Secondly, the necessity to ensure an appropriate gender balance and generational mix;
 * Thirdly, ensure that NEC represents a broad spectrum of the motive forces and has members from different centres of power;
 * Lastly, the role of observers and clarify their different categories.

When deploying cadres to assume leadership positions in the Caucus and Parliament, we should deploy some of the most senior cadres of the movement, particularly but not exclusively, those who already serve in the national leadership organs of the ANC. This will enhance synergy and political coherence between the ANC and these institutions. In particular, the Political Committee should be chaired by one of the National Officials who is an MP.

ORGANISATION AND FUNCTIONING OF HEADQUARTERS
When the SG and DSG are the only Officials deployed to coordinate and manage organisational work on a full-time basis, the current model has to be adapted to ensure that the SGO assumes overall political management responsibility over the entire Headquarters machinery, without changing the political roles and constitutional responsibilities of the different Officials.

For purposes of improving accountability and proper coordination, all departments will therefore report to the SG and DSG on their day-to-day implementation of the programme of action. In addition, there should be a clearly defined delegation of responsibilities between the SG and DSG: this is something that should be agreed among these two cadres and taken to the Officials for ratification. The SGO therefore needs the requisite capacity to coordinate and manage the work of all the departments or units based HQ.

The work of HQ should be structured around the following departments and institutions of the ANC: a re-established Organising Department, the Political School, the Policy Institute, International Relations Department, Communications Department, Administration & Support Services Department and Treasury. All these departments and institutes, except Treasury which is headed by the Treasurer-General, and Administration, should be headed by full-time members of the NEC. In a case where the Treasurer-General is not full-time, both Treasury and Administration may be headed by people with the requisite technical and managerial skills.

VETERANS
The ANC should move with speed in setting up the Veterans' League so that by the time of the Centenary it is fully functional at all levels of the organisation. This includes clarifying the important role of veterans in the political life of the organisation and finalising other details such as the Constitution and uniform. It is proposed that we use the following as the criteria to define a veteran of the ANC: 60 years and above and at least 40 years of uninterrupted or unbroken service to the struggle. The ANC membership system should be redesigned so as to recognise veterans.

The ANC needs to facilitate the full integration of all veterans, ex-combatants and ex-prisoners into the mainstream political life of the ANC. As the organisation undertakes the programme of revitalising our branch structures and re-energising our membership - through the Imvuselelo Campaign - a special area of focus should be the integration and involvement of all ANC veterans, MK veterans and former political prisoners into the structures and programmes of the movement.

With regard to MKMVA, the ANC needs to ensure that we assist with the urgent task of reconstituting provincial and national structures so that they can attend to the welfare problems facing some of our ex-combatants. Following the reconstitution of MKMVA at provincial and national level, the ANC will need to remain engaged with the task of ensuring the coherence and relevance of the organisation.

In addition to Isithwalandwe/Seaparankoe as the ANC's highest honour, the movement should introduce annual loyal service awards to honour veterans and other cadres who have displayed outstanding and loyal service and disciplined conduct over 30 years or more. These awards should be announced by the ANC President on 8th January anniversary celebrations every year together with the awards for the best performing branches and municipalities. It is proposed that, pending finalisation of other details of the awards such as the names, detailed criteria and nomination process, the following three classes or categories be introduced:


 * Class 1: 50 years of loyal service (Gold medal)
 * Class 2: 40 years of loyal service (Silver medal)
 * Class 3: 30 years of loyal service (Bronze)

The ANC needs to continuously record and publish the life stories of our veterans as part and parcel of building political consciousness among the membership and raising awareness among the general population. The Archives Unit, Political Education and Training Unit and Communication Department should undertake this urgent task in the run-up to the Centenary.

POLITICAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING
The establishment and institutionalisation of the ANC Political School should be one of the key organisational priorities of the next five years. The school will focus on the "building of a new cadre", facilitating a continuous process of knowledge acquisition and contributing to the battle of ideas in society and ideological renewal within the movement. We need to ensure that the Political School is one of the strategic areas to which the resources deriving from public funding of political parties are directed. The School should run on a formal and professional basis, offering accredited courses covering all areas of ANC work - theory of revolution, organisation and mass work, statecraft, economic and social policy and international relations, etc. In this regard, there is an urgent need to review the political education developed in 1997/8 so that the scope, content and methods of delivery are broadened to take into account proposals being made in this discussion document.

Priority should be given to building the capacity of regions and provinces to run and deliver political education courses at a scale big enough to make the desired impact on the quality of branches. The curriculum development, training materials and training of facilitators should be done at a central level to ensure quality assurance. We also need to modernise the methods of delivery and fully exploit the available distance education technology to reach out to as many ANC members cadres as possible.

For those deployed in government, our cadres must take full advantage of the training sponsored or provided them to improve their skills so that they can serve the people better. In addition, all cadres elected into constitutional structures and those deployed to the state, the economy, the arena for the battle of ideas and civil society need to go through political classes to introduce them to the ANC's thinking and key objectives in their area of work. This type of induction should be compulsory for newly-elected and newly deployed cadres such as NEC, PEC, REC and BEC members as well as the Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Premiers, MECs, Mayors, MMCs and other categories of public representatives and cadres in administrative positions. In addition, we should make it compulsory for all elected leaders at all levels of the organisation to attend specific modules in the political education curriculum: to be elected is to be a candidate for continuous learning.

A critical element of our cadreship development programme should be to focus on the specific needs of the Leagues. Courses focusing on empowering women to play their full role as equals should be introduced at all levels. The development of the youth should also be a key component of the Political School curriculum. Within the framework of the ANC Political School the internal capacity of the ANCWL and ANCYL need to be improved so that they can play an important role in delivering certain aspects of political education targeted at their structures.

The ANC should also ensure that there is state-sponsored civic education to raise the level of awareness and patriotism among the citizens of our country. A well-informed, conscientious and active citizenry is important for democracy and a human rights culture to thrive in our land.

POLITICAL MANAGEMENT OF GOVERNANCE
The NEC should develop guidelines on how the ANC structures should interface with Caucuses and Executives and the kind of issues that need to be referred to the organisation before final decisions are made. This includes clarifying the role of Caucuses as the structures responsible for maintaining party discipline, unity and cohesion among the public representatives of the ANC and overseeing the implementation of the manifesto in a particular sphere of government. The Caucuses should report to the organisation through the Offices of the Regional and Provincial Secretaries and Secretary General. Regular meetings and communication between the Secretaries and Chief Whips should be mandatory at all levels. The Political Committees should be chaired by an Official who is also a public representative at that level.

There is a need to strengthen collective decision-making and consultation on deployment of cadres to senior positions of authority. Firstly, the deployment of premiers and mayors must be finalised after consultation with the relevant constitutional structure in the province and region. Secondly, the prerogative of the President, premiers and mayors to appoint and release members of cabinet, executive councils and mayoral committees is exercised after consultation with the leadership of the organisation.

Further guidelines need to be developed on how the ANC engages and takes forward its agenda in spheres of government where it is in opposition.

POLICY FORMULATION, MONITORING AND EVALUATION
We need to reaffirm the centrality of ANC structures, especially the branches, in the policy formulation process of the movement. We need to use both the Policy Institute and the Political School to build more capacity for branches to be able to fulfill their role in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of ANC policy.

We also need to improve the capacity of ANC structures to monitor and evaluate the implementation of policy by cadres deployed in government. A monitoring and evaluation mechanism should be developed by the NEC Policy Committee and be discussed in the run-up to the 52nd National Conference. This system should include annual assessment of public representatives by branches and regions and mid-term performance evaluations by provinces and HQ.

The National Policy Conference should be become the right consultative platform for policy review and debates in the run-up to National Conferences and a consultative body for the development of the Election Manifesto in the run-up to national and local government elections. The Manifesto will then be subject to final ratification and adoption by the NEC.

The Policy Institute should be actualised as a matter of utmost priority in the run-up to the Centenary. Like in some democracies, funding for the Policy Institute could be sourced from a comprehensive system of public funding of representative political parties.

THE ELECTION OF LEADERSHIP
"Through the Eye of the Needle" should be reviewed to take into account new developments since its adoption in 2001. There is a need for an organisational mechanism at each level to ensure that the principles and criteria outlined in the document are upheld. This will ensure that candidates or nominees are scrupulously scrutinised by structures and their strengths and weaknesses discussed openly in the meetings of the organisation prior to voting.

There is a need for ongoing political education of members to ensure that they understand the basis on which leadership is elected into structures of the movement. The role and obligation of delegates should be emphasised, including the importance of both the right to a secret ballot and the importance of consensus in leadership elections. Branches need to carefully scrutinise and deliberate on the caliber of delegates they elect and send to conferences. At all times leadership decisions should be based on the qualities of candidates, the demands of the domestic and global situation and the needs and interests of the movement and our country at large.

In terms of lobbying, there is a need to stamp out destructive practices such as smear campaigns against and "character assassination" of those with whom one disagrees. Our movement must emphasise the role of formal structures and processes, particularly the branches, in openly reviewing the performance and suitability of candidates for specific leadership positions in the movement. Disciplinary proceedings should be instituted against ANC members who are found to have been involved in smear campaigns and factional activities that undermine the formal processes wherein members are free to air their views and debate leadership issues frankly.

In addition to strengthening the current nomination procedures for electing ANC leadership and list guidelines for public representatives to enhance democratic participation, the ANC needs to develop a comprehensive approach to the management of leadership transition in the organisation and government, drawing lessons from other progressive ruling parties in the world. This should include clarifying how the movement selects its candidate for the Presidency of the Republic. This will contribute to stability, consistency and predictability.

In addition to the number of years you need to qualify for election into the executive committee at each level, we need to include a certain level of political education and mass work as qualifications. For instance, a member may need to have completed a certain amount of volunteer work and a basic course on the history and primary role of the ANC. Currently, the one-year qualification for BEC is meaningless because it is not accompanied by compulsory organisational work and ideological training. The same will apply for REC, PEC and NEC elections.

COMMUNICATIONS AND IDEOLOGICAL WORK
Training and development of cadres in communication and other skills related to the battle of ideas should be one of the core areas of the curriculum of the ANC Political School and a critical area of work of the Policy Institute should be to coordinate the movement's systematic work in the battle of ideas.

There is a need to strengthen the ANC's communication machinery at all levels and further modernise the current internal communication systems, taking full advantage of available and new technology. The ANC structures, especially the branches and public representatives, need to be trained continuously and encouraged to take full advantage of the positive developments in the growth of community media and roll-out of ICT-based service delivery, to enhance our mass and sectoral work.

There is a need to review the impact of ANC Today and further to develop it in terms of its size and scope of issues to address the ongoing necessity for an ANC Newspaper.

ELECTION CAMPAIGNS
Building a strong and vibrant mass organisation that is in touch with the people on a continuous basis is the best way to prepare for and win elections. The mass character of the ANC reinforces its capacity to contest elections as a party. We need to strengthen the capacity of both the state and the organisational structures, particularly branches, to respond to community development needs and aspirations. In short, by addressing people's problems we are ready for elections on a daily basis, as outlined in the Imvuselelo Handbook.

We need to build election campaign resources and capacity on a continuous basis. This includes setting up and building an election fund on an annual basis and saving a portion of funds from public funding and private donations for use at the time of elections. This will provide the much needed certainty and financial security during election campaigns. We also need to maintain a minimum full-time election machinery at all levels. Ongoing research will be required to track changing attitudes and perceptions of voters on various issues of public concern. We should avoid training completely new election workers during every election and recall experienced election volunteers during elections.

We need to review and improve the list process to ensure that we select and deploy the best cadres for public office. The current process does not always give us the candidates that are most suitable for the task. We need to ensure that the ANC involves the broader community in its candidate selection processes. We also need to ensure that we attract people with skills and ensure the broadest possible sectoral spread in our public representative corps. The current guidelines need to be strengthened to enhance accountability mechanisms and performance of public representatives.

Our campaign tactics should continue to emphasise direct contact with the people, while at the same time making optimal use of new technology to take our message to both our core supporters and battleground areas during the different phases of the campaign. This requires a continuous training and retraining of our election workers and volunteers in new techniques.

DISCIPLINE AND ETHICAL CONDUCT
There is a need to strengthen the political, ideological and disciplinary capacity of the ANC structures at all levels so that they can detect, combat and root out tendencies that seek to undermine the ability of the ANC to serve the interest of the people - corruption, careerism, factionalism and patronage. Respect for rule of law should be one of the core areas of political education at all levels of the organisation. This will enable the ANC to invest in the conscientious actions and conduct of the membership and leadership, rather than focus only on violations or transgressions. Rule 25 should be strengthened to address whatever shortcomings are there in the current disciplinary procedures. In addition, the movement should also educate society at large around the importance of observance of rule of law.

The document "The Conduct of a New Cadre" should be strengthened for use in the political education programmes as part of strengthening ideological work and raise political consciousness among the membership and leadership of the movement.

ORGANISATIONAL MANAGEMENT
There is a need for a major overhaul of our current HR policies and systems, to ensure they accord with the country's laws and reflect the best values and traditions of the ANC. Part of this should include training, development and deployment and redeployment of cadres who have worked full-time in the ANC to other fronts so as to enhance their overall experience and skills. Remuneration parity across the various areas of party work will be crucial. This should include the formalisation of the practice of training young people to work at ANC Offices for a specified period of time, at least two years, before they move on, as part of the learnership, internship and mentorship programme of the ANC.

The Organisational Design of our Regional and Provincial Offices and HQ should be based on their core functions as outlined in the earlier sections of this document. Further work will need to be commissioned to HR practitioners to finalise the organogram of HQ, provincial and regional offices after the National Conference.

The ANC, like other parties all over the world, should make maximum use of some of our cadres deployed in government and legislature positions that allow them to contribute to various areas of organisational work - policy, international relations, communications and political education and training. The Political School and Policy Institute should be structured in a way that houses some of the movement's strategic programme staff.

The movement should take full advantage of ICT to modernise its operations in branches, regions, provinces and HQ and learn from best practices of other parties and movements in the world. In this regard, we need to review current ICT infrastructure and develop a comprehensive medium-to-long term ICT strategy that will cover areas of organisational work such as political education, organising and campaigns, membership and administration and management.

The NEC needs to adopt a comprehensive policy and guidelines on ANC records and archives, including detailed procedures on access and preservation of such documents.

FUNDING THE MOVEMENT
As a matter of urgency, the ANC should champion the introduction of a comprehensive system of public funding of representative political parties in the different spheres of government and civil society organisations, as part of strengthening the tenets of our new democracy. This includes putting in place an effective regulatory architecture for private funding of political parties and civil society groups to enhance accountability and transparency to the citizenry.

With regard to self-financing initiatives, the movement needs to take a policy decision on the kind of vehicles that are preferable and clarify which level or organ of the movement is authorised to put in place such vehicles. At the moment, there is no clear policy and this creates a lot of confusion in the ranks. It also creates possibilities to open the movement up for fundraising activities that may not accord with the ANC's moral integrity and public standing. Different structures are doing different things as they grapple with the pressure of financial survival. This does make the ANC vulnerable to elements or individuals who may want to use the movement to pursue their own ends. The critical question we need to deal with is whether, in addition to public funding and levies on the public representatives and other cadres, we can find ethical and legal ways to augment funding sources from the private sector. How do we ensure that such funding mechanisms have no negative impact on the ANC's moral integrity and public standing? Which level of the organisation is empowered to put in place what fundraising vehicle?


 * CHAPTER SEVEN**

The ANC has evolved and developed into a people's movement and agent for change over many years of struggle and sacrifice. It had to overcome serious obstacles and setbacks in the long road to freedom and democracy. Our movement has a track record of being a trusted leader and loyal servant people. Its strength lies in its ability to renew itself ideologically and organisationally, to take account of new developments and new challenges. However, this ability for self-renewal cannot be taken for granted. It is a task that every generation has to grapple with and accomplish, based on the requirements and tasks of the each situation. Any organisational review and renewal proposals for the ANC have to pass one test: to what extent do they enhance the capacity of the movement to remain a trusted leader, loyal servant of the people and an agent for change! This is the main challenge.
 * CONCLUSION**

Through this Organisational Review and Renewal Discussion Document, an effort has been made to synthesise and sum up the collective experience of how the movement has attempted to restructure, re-organise and constantly renew itself over the different phases of its history. In particular, we identified the main constitutional and organisational changes of the past seventeen years, with particular focus on the post-1994 period. We have also assessed the impact of such changes on the overall performance of the ANC. Accordingly, we have pointed out some of the strategic strengths that our movement has been able to build since coming to power. Similarly, we have identified and made proposals on addressing challenges that pose a serious threat to the long term survival of the ANC. Some of the proposals we have made can be implemented immediately because they are about taking forward previous resolutions and decisions. Others have constitutional implications and will therefore have to be further deliberated upon as part of constitutional amendments. There are those proposals that call for the development of guidelines or protocols in a number of areas. Such require more work, between now and 52nd National Conference, to produce brief addition documents on what guidelines or protocols may be necessary. Lastly, there are proposals that have significant structural and financial implications: these need extensive debate so that by the time they are adopted there is clarity on the nature of the problems we are dealing with and the adequate and lasting solutions to address such problems.

Having captured the salient points of how the movement has organised and restructured itself since its unbanning in 1990 and after coming into power in 1994, the discussion document argues that the current strategic imperative of being a liberation movement and a ruling party at once, is yet to find full organisational and institutional expression in the ANC. The document further argues that while it is important to strengthen the ANC's work in the other pillars of transformation, priority should be given to enhancing our capacity to conduct mass work and give leadership to governance. The case is being made that mass work and state power constitute the principal pillars on which the progress of the NDR depends. Hence, the twin tasks of organisational renewal is to strengthen the mass character of the ANC by deepening its roots among the masses and maintaining its flesh-and-blood ties with the people, while improving its governing capacity and overall capacity to give leadership to the ongoing struggle to build a more humane and caring society, a better Africa and an equitable and just world order.

We can only hope the issues raised in this Discussion Document will provoke enough thought and generate the necessary debates on the challenges of the post-1994 period. Whatever views we may have on the specific proposals that are being made, the ultimate objective should be to ensure that the movement becomes even stronger as it approaches its Centenary so that it deal with new challenges during its Second Century of its existence. This is the spirit within which all the proposals are being made. We hereby invite all cadres to join in the festival of ideas about the fundamental challenge of strengthening our movement so that it remains a trusted leader, loyal servant of the people and an agent for change!


 * From: http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/discussion/2007/review.html**

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