ANC confident on policy outcomes
2012-06-25 21:49
Johannesburg - The ANC is confident its policy conference will produce outstanding outcomes, secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Monday.
"There have been very robust debates within our branches, regions, provinces [and] alliance structures, and [among] the public, on the policy he told reporters in Johannesburg.
"We are very confident that the policy conference... will bring together all those discussions and produce outstanding policy outcomes."
He said robust debate between about 3 500 delegates was to be expected.
"This is a source of excitement. The fact that people have expressed different views is indication that there will be robust debate," he said.
The ANC's four-day policy conference is set to start at Gallagher Estate in Midrand, Johannesburg, on Tuesday.
The delegates consisted of branch delegates, national executive committee members, the ANC leagues, its alliance partners, deployees and business representatives.
The ANC's head of policy Jeff Radebe said delegates from all provinces would be part of the commission discussions on the policies.
"The responsibility is with provinces to allocate delegates to each commission," he said.
"The steering committee will monitor and make sure each province has delegates in each commission."
The ANC's largest province, KwaZulu-Natal, would field about 540 delegates, while the party's second largest province, the Eastern Cape, was sending 420 delegates to the conference, said Radebe.
The other provinces' delegation numbers ranged between 100 and 250.
When asked what obstacles the ANC would face during the policy conference, Mantashe said: "We'll deal with challenges as they come."
He said the policy conference was a "preparatory conference" for the ANC's national elective conference, to be held in Mangaung in December, but would not focus on the succession debate.
ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said: "All of us will be focused on whether policies have worked, or if they need to be reviewed."
Tuesday's session would start with an address by President Jacob Zuma, who is also president of the ANC.
The conference would then have a closed plenary session.
Input would be received on three of the ANC's main policy documents: organisational renewal, strategy and tactics; the state intervention in the mining sector; and the national development plan and commission guidelines.
"All submissions that have been made by individuals and organisations have been sent to all relevant sub-committees," said Mantashe.
"These will assist in ensuring that the conference considers these discussions broadly and inclusively."
He said the ANC would ensure that all concerns would be raised and looked into.
The second day of the conference would consist of commissions discussing the party's 13 policy documents in closed sessions.
All the commissions would deliberate on the ANC's discussion documents on organisational renewal and strategy and tactics, which included the second transition.
Commissions would report back on the third and fourth days, said Mantashe.
- SAPA
