The ANC will hold its national general council (NGC) from December 8 to 11 at the Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni, where the party will assess its organisational health, policy direction and performance in government.
The NGC — the ANC’s review mechanism — will evaluate:
- progress on party renewal;
- the effectiveness of its government programmes (including local government interventions and economic priorities); and
- the status of socio-economic reconstruction efforts.
It will also measure implementation of resolutions adopted at the party’s 55th national conference.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said on Tuesday the meeting will include a briefing on the state of US–South Africa relations after recent tensions.
Also key on the agenda is the future of the tripartite alliance, particularly the ANC’s relationship with the South African Communist Party (SACP) after the SACP’s announcement that it intends to contest elections independently.
Mbalula said the NGC would confront the organisation’s “strategic setback” in the 2024 elections, in which the ANC’s support fell to 40% of the national vote for the first time.
“We will use the NGC to reflect on the setback we suffered in the 2024 elections. The NEC had to consider how the ANC could still exercise state power while accepting that the electorate had spoken. That is what informed our decision to explore the option of a government of national unity,” he said.
The gathering is expected to give the clearest indication of how the ANC intends to reposition itself amid internal renewal pressures, coalition governance realities and shifting geopolitical dynamics.
TimesLIVE
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