South Africa: ANC policy conference's outcomes are unclear

The African National Congress (ANC) claims that its recent four-day policy conference was a great success. However, even after the four days, the ANC still has not articulated a clear stance on a number of policy issues. Considering the recent failure of the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, to have textbooks delivered to numerous schools in Limpopo, the ANC could have used this opportunity to announce exactly what it intended to do about the various issues relating to education. Also, the ever-growing problem of high-level government corruption was not sufficiently addressed.  It appears as though Zuma is simply deflecting attention from the serious problems that South Africa is experiencing, rather than addressing them. Leading up to the conference Zuma could have sent a strong message through the cabinet reshuffle by dealing with incompetence in the Basic Education ministry, for instance, and backing this up at the conference with strong statements on how government would be addressing the scourge of corruption.

On the very contentious issues of land reform and nationalisation, the conference discussed various radical options, but it is likely that most of the current positions will remain intact. First, the ANC announced that land expropriation in the radical manner articulated by the ANCYL would not be pursued and there would be no constitutional amendment on land reform. The conference resolved, however, that it would abandon the willing buyer, willing seller principle on land redistribution. Instead, the ANC will pursue a policy guided by Section 25 of the Constitution, which states that expropriation of land must be accompanied by ‘just and equitable’ compensation. The ANC will also seek to pursue expropriation if it is in the ‘public interest’ or for ‘public purpose’ as enshrined in law. There was also a resolution to the effect that expropriation without compensation should be pursued if the land had been acquired illegally. Second, the ANC stated that there would be no nationalisation of strategic resources. However, it was decided that in future the state should play a greater role in projects concerning strategic mineral resources. This could, for instance, be in the form of the state having a larger stake in these projects. There was no elaboration on how the state intended to intervene in the minerals sector.

It must be borne in mind, however, that all these announcements/resolutions are merely recommendations subject to change at the ANC national conference that will be held in Manguang in December. The Mangaung conference may very well endorse different positions to become official party policy that will feed into national policy making.

The notion of the ‘Second Transition’ was rejected at the policy conference and instead it resolved that the country was in the ‘second phase of the transition’. What is critical though in terms of this so-called ‘second phase’ is that the ANC needs to give a very robust account of how it will deal with unemployment, poverty and inequality, which affect the majority of black South Africans.

In fact, the current lack of clarity regarding these very important policy issues may probably be deliberate on the part of the ANC. Taking hard stances on these issues at this juncture would open the ANC up to attacks from opposition parties, for instance. It is possible that the ANC is mindful of the reality that radical policy announcements on nationalisation and land redistribution have negative ramifications for the economy. And a dent to the economy during election season may not be in the best interests of the party. It is also likely that many high-level ANC members who hold radical positions on land reform and nationalisation are reluctant to articulate their policy stances at this stage out of concern that it may be perceived as a signal of their presidential ambitions, which could damage their political careers. If media reports are anything to go by, the image of unity that the ANC has attempted to project in the run-up to Mangaung belies fundamental differences in the party about where South Africa should head in terms of addressing the challenges faced by its citizens 18 years into democracy.

Compiled by the Conflict Prevention and Risk Analysis Division