Lobbying rules to tame firebrands

The ANC is planning to regulate how money is used to support candidates in leadership contests, by outlawing practices such as the production of T-shirts and posters and the promising of government positions for this purpose.

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said last week that “cash flow” at conferences has become problematic for the party and that rules were needed to manage it.

Conference delegates are often given cash or other incentives, including food parcels and cellphone airtime, to vote for a candidate standing for a leadership position.

In the discussion document “Leadership Renewal”, prepared for the party’s national general council due in September, the ANC outlines lobbying rules and warns that breaking them will amount to misconduct, potentially leading to disciplinary action.

It proposes that the following should be outlawed:

• Raising and using funds and other resources to campaign for election to ANC structures;


• Producing T-shirts, posters and other paraphernalia to promote candidates;


• Promising or withholding positions to ensure support;


• Attacking the integrity of other candidates;


• Using the media to support or oppose a particular candidate; and


• Banning any structure outside the ANC from nominating or lobbying for candidates.

Candidates will be required to distance themselves from misconduct by their supporters that occurs while they are lobbying in their name.

Further rules
Further rules on conduct at meetings include a ban on heckling, on the suppression of legitimate dissent, and on observers and guests engaging in misconduct.

The use of T-shirts and banners came to prominence during the 2007 Polokwane conference, as did disruptive behaviour by delegates during plenary sessions.

Conferences, particularly of the ANC Youth League, have frequently been marred by open, hostile contestation between leaders and disruptive behaviour that caused several provincial conferences to fall apart.

League deputy president Andile Lungisa issued a statement distancing himself from the behaviour of those who supported him as president Julius Malema’s successor.

The concerns about conduct during ANC leadership elections are not new. The leadership renewal document is based on Through the Eye of the Needle, drafted by national executive committee member Joel Netshitenzhe before the ANC’s 2002 conference.

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