In Pictures: The 54th ANC elective conference
ANC National Conference nominations list
#ANC54th National Conference
Conference nominates top six leaders:
Presidential Candidate:
Cyril Ramaphosa vs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
Deputy President:
Lindiwe Sisulu vs David Mabuza
Secretary General:
Senzo Mchunu vs Ace Magashule
Deputy Secretary General:
Jessie Duarte vs Zingiswa Losi
Treasurer General:
Paul Mashatile vs Maite Nkoana-Mashabane
Voting is expected to take place this evening with the results announced tomorrow morning.
ANC elective conference: Credentials finally sorted
Thabo Mohlala
Credentials for the 54th ANC conference at Nasrec have finally been adopted marking the real start of the convention.
Briefing the media a few hours ago, Jessie Duarte, ANC Deputy Secretary-General, said they had to ensure they managed the situation carefully following the disqualification of some branches and Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) members by three court orders.
Yesterday some delegates expressed their disquiet when they discovered their names did not appear on the accreditation list while others claimed they had been replaced by bogus members.
Fourteen branches from Free State and 35 in the North West will not be voting while PECs from KwaZulu-Natal and Free State have been demoted to observers’ status.
“This created a difficulty as we had to explain to members why they would not be voting and it contributed to the delay. It is not unusual to delay, we do it to protect the integrity of the conference,” said Duarte.
She said credentials involved checking very thoroughly every detail to ensure that every delegate passed the verification process.
Duarte said the disqualification has whittled down the number of delegates to 4 700 instead of the anticipated 5 000.
According to media reports, these are the numbers of votes per provinces:
Western Cape – 136
Gauteng – 491
Mpumalanga – 708
North West – 446
Eastern Cape – 632
KwaZulu-Natal – 804
Limpopo – 567
Free State – 349
Northern Cape – 193
ANC Constitutional structures also have voting rights: Youth and Women’s Leagues each contribute 60, Veterans League 55 and NEC members account for 86.
Baleka Mbete makes her choice: The ANC needs Ramaphosa for 2019
Bonile Khanyi
ANC delegates need to choose a leader who will ensure the party is victorious in the 2019 general elections. This is what Baleka Mbete said when she put her weight behind Cyril Ramaphosa as he fights for the top seat in the ANC.
“It would be wrong for us to have a limited approach to what we have come to do here. The major part of what we have come to do is to look at how we mobilise South Africans, how we re-organise ourselves such that we can deliver better to them,” said Mbete.
Speaking at the ANC’s 54th national conference on Saturday night, the outgoing ANC national chairperson announced her endorsement for Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa as the ruling party’s new president.
“We publicly endorse Comrade Cyril Ramaphosa. We have been talking and we agree on how to approach the issues of maximising unity in the organisation, in particular moving towards 2019,” said Mbete.
When asked why she chose to support Ramaphosa and not Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Mbete said its because they’ve worked together for a long time and that they agree on a lot of issues they’ve discussed to take the country forward.
Delegates at the conference are expected to vote for their preferred top six leaders and national executive committee (NEC) members on Sunday.
EFF: Free higher education is a victory for Fees Must Fall Movement
Bonile Khanyi
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has welcomed President Jacob Zuma’s announcement on free higher education, calling it a historic generational victory for the fees must fall movement.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the EFF said “this will aid a lot of families and relieve a lot of financial burden from their shoulders. We also welcome announcements of increase of government subsidy to universities as recommended by the Fees Commission.”
On Saturday morning, President Jacob Zuma announced that government will introduce free higher education and training for all South African students from poor and working classes homes.
“Having amended the definition of poor and working-class students‚ government will now introduce fully subsidised free higher education and training for poor and working-class South African undergraduate students‚ starting in 2018 with students in their first year of study at our public universities‚” read the statement.
He also said that the deserving students will be funded and supported through government grants, not loans.
“All poor and working class South African students enrolled at public TVET colleges will be funded through grants not loans.
For TVET colleges, full cost of study will include tuition fee, prescribed study material, meals, accommodation, and/or transport.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance has slammed Zuma’s announcement saying that his “playing politics with the hopes and futures of millions of young people.”
While the DA says it welcomes Zuma’s announcement, the DA’s Shadow Minister of Higher Education and Training Belinda Bozzoli said it must be seen for what it is.
“The statement is a combination of populist politicking, deceptive language, uncosted proposals and one positively dangerous assertion,” said Bozzoli.
“The President waited until the very end of the year so that he could make a splash at the ANC conference, while students, their families and the institutions they wish to attend anxiously awaited news. Such cheap politicking is appalling. Unsurprisingly, his statement is full of promises, but lacking actual implementation details.”
Gwede Mantashe: Nullified structures will not vote as they will contaminate conference
Thabo Mohlala
Structures that were nullified by the three court rulings yesterday will not be allowed to vote at the ANC 54th conference scheduled to start shortly this afternoon, Gwede Mantashe, told a brief media conference.
He said this was the outcome of the party’s urgently convened national executive committee (NEC) earlier this morning to discuss the implications of the court judgments against some of its provincial structures.
“All structures that are nullified by the courts will not be voting delegates at conference. We are not even going to try any idea that will actually contaminate the conference,” said Mantashe. He said the same will apply to “the branches that were cited in the cases in both Bojanala and the Free State will not vote at conference. We will not even allow then to vote with different colour coding. They are here already as observers and invitees to the conference.”
He said other issues will be discussed by the various provinces beyond the conference.
Court deals a blow to Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma presidential ambitions
Thabo Mohlala
With just a day to go before the high-stakes ANC conference, the North West High Court has delivered a bombshell ruling that nullifies ANC’s Bojanala regional conference.
The case was brought to the court after the former regional secretary Tokyo Mataboge and 39 other members disputed the constitutionality of at least 40 branches’ general meetings. They also claimed that over 70 signatures were forged.
Bojanala is the North West’s biggest region and could seriously torpedo Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s chances of winning the organisation’s top post on Sunday as delegates vote for a new ANC president.
The ANC North West provincial executive said it would appeal the court’s decision. Disgruntled members of ANC in the Free State province have also lodged a similar case with the court and judgement is due this afternoon.
SA universities announce 8% fee increase
Thabo Mohlala
Fee increases will not fall in 2018. All 26 universities in South Africa have, through their vice-chancellors, agreed to the inflationary income adjustment increase 0f 8% for 2018 academic year.
In a statement released on Thursday, Universities South Africa (USAF) said the decision for the fee increment was taken following lack of clarity on the part of the government to regarding its approach to fees both in the medium and long-term.
The body said this increase is based on “realistic” considerations and will allow the institutions to “function at a decent level” without having to resort to drastic cost-cutting measures and retrenchments.
It further noted that while it is anxiously waiting for the final outcome of the deliberations of the Inter-Ministerial Committee to process the Fees Commission recommendations, particularly fee-free education, time is not on their side as universities have to prepare for the start of the 2018/19 academic year.
USAF said it has canvassed the department of higher education and training and Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize who granted them permission “to put in place an effective subsidy dispensation”. They also added that “the Minister agreed to make a formal announcement about the decision of the national government in this regard”.
The body said the “inflationary income adjustment” is only for students who qualify for NSFAS loans and those whose families’ total income is above the NSFAS threshold of R122,000 and below R600 000 per annum.
“The higher education price index (HEPI) runs at about 1.7% above the consumer price index (CPI) because of the particular nature of the basket of expenditures that constitute their [universities] budgets. And so, the vast majority of the 26 universities have come together to determine that the inflationary income adjustment increase for 2018 will be set at 8%,” the statement read.
In her recent interview with Inside Education, Mkhize assured the country that discussions with vice-chancellors are proceeding well to ensure there is calm on campuses next year.
The issue of fees has been at the centre of student protests resulting in the disruptions of lectures in some universities. It is anticipated the final announcement on the matter will decisively address students’ demand for fee-free education and also increase subsidies to universities to operate optimally.
ANC Conference: Education, health, science and technology high on agenda
Bonile Khanyi
Education, health, science and technology will be high on the agenda at the upcoming 54th African National Congress (ANC conference), which will be held at Nasrec Expo Centre this week.
Briefing the media on Wednesday, Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor in her capacity as an ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) member, said that: “Since the dawn of democracy science and technology has been put in the centre of development in our country; and schools, colleges and universities have become accessible to all South Africans as a result of two decades of implementation of progressive policies and programmes as advocated by President Nelson Mandela.”
Pandor said that the ANC has made strides in education with more women than men at tertiary level.
“We have noted the positive impact of implementation of ANC policies that has resulted in increased and expanded participation in higher education. There has been a huge expansion in the number of women studying in higher education: women are in a majority,” said Pandor.
However, despite the increased participation, Pandor said the ANC is still aware of the challenges ahead, particularly the high costs of tertiary education.
“We are also saying the conference must direct the government to immediately finalise the model for free higher education for those who are unable to afford the costs of higher education,” said Pandor.
Pandor said whilst the focus is also on basic education, there are still issues of concern.
“The basic education sector is concerned with continued disruptions of schooling during times of unrests, high dropout and repetition rates, particularly in Grades 9 – 12; health-related challenges and their impact of schooling such as TB and HIV & Aids; and procurement challenges related to Learner-teacher support materials (LTSMs), infrastructure and school furniture,” said Pandor.
She said the ruling party was very confident that delegates would apply their minds to policy proposals that emerged out of the ANC National Policy Conference.
These include among other things;
- Increasing support for postgraduate funding for poor students which will increase South Africa’s research capacity in science and technology;
- Accelerating programmes to improve literacy and numeracy in basic education, particularly in formerly disadvantaged communities;
- Finalise the model for free higher education for those who are unable to afford their fees as mentioned above;
- And strengthening measures to improve the quality of care offered by health practitioners in the public and private sector.
Other issues that will be addressed include finding ways to strengthen the capacity and capability of the state as an important factor towards good delivery services.
In conclusion, Pandor said she was positive that all sectors have made good progress in implementing resolutions of the 53rd National Conference.
“We have noted areas of excellence and also areas of concern where sectors have room for improvement and where urgent action needs to be taken. All sectors are on track to achieve most of their goals,” concluded Pandor.
Rhodes University: Students were expelled for criminal activity, not protests
Bonile Khanyi
Rhodes University has rubbished claims that it expelled two students for protesting against rape culture on campus.
On Tuesday the hashtag #RhodesWar trended after two young women accused the university of expelling them for their activism during the #RUReferenceList protest against rape culture held at the institution in April 2016. The university accused the young women of “cynical attempts at manipulating public opinion” saying it expelled them for committing criminal acts.
“There is a clear distinction between vigorously pursuing our common objective of eliminating sexual and gender-based violence on the one hand and using such a noble cause as a cover to commit acts of criminality, which serve to undermine a noble struggle,” the university said in a media statement.
According to media reports, the list contained names of 11 alleged sexual predators was circulated on social media, which sparked action from the students who went to seek out the perpetrators from their various residencies.
It is understood that some students allegedly dragged four other students suspected of sexual assault out of their dorm rooms and beat them with up empty water bottles.
According to the university, the students exhibited “conduct beyond lawful boundaries and amounted to common law offences”, which led to their expulsion on November 17 this year.
The students were found guilty of kidnapping, assault, defamation and insubordination.
The news sparked massive outrage on social media under #RhodesWar hashtag.
Something is very wrong with our judiciary. What kind of judge hears evidence and decides that a student with 2 exams left to graduate must be excluded? #RhodesWar
— Sicelo (@SiceloDumakude) December 11, 2017
Rhodes is sending a very loud message that if and when you get raped, don’t you dare name and shame your rapist. Us we are inspired by #LionMama. All crimes have their price. The purging of Black Womxn must stop. #RhodesWar
— Babes Womzabalazo (@NalediChirwa) December 12, 2017
Our universities would rather protect rapists then allow student activists to address rape culture!
This is South Africa where issues raised by black women are silenced!@Rhodes_Uni YOU WILL NOT SILENCE US! YOU WILL NOT BREAK BLACK WOMEN WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE! #RhodesWar
— Seipati Tshabalala (@i_am__seipati) December 12, 2017
A rapist (Jason) WHO WAS FOUND GUILTY OF SEXUAL ASSAULT GRADUATED AT RHODES. Black Womxn who protested against rape DID NOT GRADUATE. NOR CAN THEY CONTINUE THEIR STUDIES ANYWHERE ELSE. This is war. #RhodesWar
— Babes Womzabalazo (@NalediChirwa) December 11, 2017
The Socio-Economic Rights Institute (Seri), acting on behalf of one of the activists, Yolanda Dyantyi, slammed the institution for imposing “the harshest penalty imposed for ten years”.
In a statement, Seri it would launch an application to the High Court to review and set aside the disciplinary proceedings brought against Dyantyi.
“SERI believes that the University’s treatment of Ms. Dyantyi has been disproportionate, unfair and unlawful,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, the deputy minister of higher education Buti Manamela said that he would look into the matter.
I’m made aware of the expulsion of students who protested against Rape by Rhodes University. I’ve asked for a full report & will be doing all to advance the education of our youth
— DM Higher Education (@ButiManamela) December 12, 2017