The branch of the ANC is the basic unit of the organisation; this is where the ANC lives, with no branches the ANC cannot survive. The branches must reject the slates circulating with top six and NEC members, compiled by people who believe they are better than the ANC branches.
These slates are nothing but works of factions, killing the branches and reducing them to nothing but voting cows. It is okay for any leader to be elected and lead the ANC, this election (ANC leadership election) must be done by branches, and no one must be treated as a celebrity and presume that branches will automatically elect them just because some lobbyist says so.
Lobbyists must allow branches to apply their minds, vet the current NEC then nominate their preferred leaders. When I interacted with branches, a number of complaints have been raised about these leaders who are elected from the slates.
After these comrades are elected they never come back to service the very same branches that elected them, some do not even return to their own branches -- they only come when they want to be elected.
Branches of the ANC must in fact forward people from their own branches, zones and regions to represent them in the NEC so that the NEC can reflect the true status of the branches. We must move away from a celebrity and elite NEC that has no relations to the branches.
90 percent of our voting delegates in the conference are made up of branch delegates; it is a conference of branches, not the NEC.
In many of our branches we have comrades who have served the ANC loyally and also meet the constitutional requirements to be NEC members, you do not need to be a provincial chairperson for you to be in the NEC, the NEC belongs to the branches. 90 percent of our voting delegates in the conference (ANC national conference) are made up of branch delegates; it is a conference of branches, not the NEC.
I implore branches of the ANC to take their time, go to their branch general meetings, discuss the status of the organisation and soberly nominate leaders they want to take the movement forward, branches must refuse to be forced to just endorse lists made up in secret meetings without their input.
Branches of the ANC are the basic unit of the organisation; every development of the movement must come from them and this conference (ANC national conference) must allow branches to express their views.