Johannesburg - The ANC will be doing everything in their power to prevent its national conference from collapsing, even if they run the risk of the results of the presidential election being challenged later, says political analyst Ralph Mathekga.
ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte announced on Sunday morning that delegate credentials (which clarifies the number of delegates from each province allowed to vote) have been officially adopted. That means they can now proceed to considering proposed amendments to the ANC constitution, and ultimately start the voting process.
“The question is, what are the conditions under which they were adopted? Is there room for disputes after the fact? They’ve clearly reached a consensus, but if everyone’s not happy, then they will challenge it after the fact,” Mathekga says.
“The conference now has potential to go on, not because things were done procedurally correct, but because the delegates had the grace to say, ‘fine, let’s accept the credentials so we can get on with it.’ Because there will be those who feel aggrieved and they could disrupt the conference if they wanted to. It can only mean that both factions feel confident that they will win.”
A collapse of the conference at this stage could be disastrous for the ANC’s 2019 national election campaign.
“If ANC members cannot run their own house, why should anyone trust them to run the country? As far as the country is concerned, Jacob Zuma will continue as president, which could be a liability for the ANC in the 2019 elections. The sooner they rid themselves of Jacob Zuma, the better position they’ll be in come 2019,” says Mathekga.
