Africa-Press – South-Africa. ANC policy conference: Taking the ANC’s temperature
When Cyril Ramaphosa was elected president of the ANC in 2017, there were high hopes that he would fix the country’s issues.
It is now nearly five years later, and that time Ramaphosa thought he had, is gone, and the country’s issues are now even more extensive. Besides dealing with the fallout of the state capture years, there’s growing unemployment, load shedding, and increasing cost of living exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.
Ramaphosa has kicked the can down the road too many times. At this crucial time in the country’s history, this weekend’s ANC policy conference should be the best place to discuss and tackle the ongoing challenges. But it is unlikely that we will see the nuanced and intelligent debate that’s needed. What we probably will see is the conference turning into just another proxy fight for the factions within the party.
In this week’s Friday Briefing, News24 columnist and analyst Mpumelelo Mkhabela takes a closer look at what the party is revealing about itself through its documents, while News24 associate editor Qaanitah Hunter examines the symbolism of song at these conferences and how, this year, Ramaphosa enters the meeting without a rallying call for his supporters to coalesce around.
Then Fin24’s writer at large, Carol Paton, reflects on the ANC’s take on getting the economy working, and just how ambitious those plans are.
Finally, Auwal Socio-Economic Research Institute’s Ebrahim Fakir questions whether the policy conference actually matters.
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