NTOMBI NKOSI AND ANITA NKONKI
Johannesburg – Political analysts said it has been proven that the ANC is known for coming up with great policies, but their ability to implement them is weak.
Party president Cyril Ramaphosa has called for a speedy turnaround time regarding policy adoptions.
“Through the deliberations in commissions, delegates made it clear that we need to proceed with greater (urgency) but also with greater purpose to address the challenges that confront our people where our policies remain relevant and appropriate.
“We need to be more focused on ensuring their effectiveness and full implementation. Where our policies are inadequate or have shortcomings, we need to do things differently. At the core of the tasks identified by conference in December, is the need to restore our relationship as a movement with the people of South Africa,” said Ramaphosa.
The ANC resumed its 55th National Elective Conference to adopt policy resolutions that will stipulate a way for the party over the next five years.
The conference resumed at Imvelo Safari Lodge, in Mangaung.
The party’s conference was held from December 16–20, 2022, and was adjourned due to the fact that voting for the top seven leadership took longer than expected.
Political analyst Professor Dirk Kotzé said the weakness of the ANC was implementation.
“I think this is one of the weaknesses of the ANC. I mean, this is not my opinion. It’s the general opinion of people looking at it from a policy point of view. Policy making and policy formulation is better, but (not) the policy implementation part of it.
“The ANC depends obviously on the government infrastructure. It’s not about implementation, but not even the party leaders in Cabinet. Ultimately, the civil servants, the public administration, must do most of the work, and I think that is where the gap possibly exists.
“It is between, on the one hand, the political agenda and the political initiatives, and, on the other hand, the capacity of the public administration. A good example of that is, for example, the national health insurance policy that is now more than 10 years in the pipeline, and it’s not yet been very much implemented at all,” Kotzé said.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula also briefed the media earlier, explaining their plans to adopt a new programme of action after this weekend.
“After this conference on January 8, we are hard at work in terms of government structure, the Cabinet, and what it is going to look like. The president would have applied his mind to some of these things.
“We will be hard at work in terms of preparing for the government lekgotla, the ANC lekgotla, constituting new committees, and their deployment, so there are a lot of things… (also) adopting a new programme of action,” said Mbalula.
He added: “Our people are much more interested in what the ANC will do differently to move the country forward, (rather) than just electing people to become part of the leadership. The people of Soweto want to know what we are going to do about the electricity and the bill backlog.
“The people of our country want to know when we are going to keep the lights uninterrupted. The people of our country want to know what the ANC in action is going to do to give renewal to itself, rather than just electing people into positions,” he said.
The Star
