ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) member and head of organising Nomvula Mokonyane reckons she will be cruising into the deputy secretary-general position. 

Speaking to Daily Maverick on the sidelines of the ANC’s 55th national conference, she said members of the party were already referring to her as the party deputy secretary-general.

“Those who have come to me suggesting that I avail myself, have not come back and said that I must not stand. I think they came to me, seeing something in me and I remain very humbled by that. You never go to war to lose and that is it. Any room for disappointment? You must always have room for it. But I have faith in members of the ANC,” she said.

Mokonyane acknowledged that branches have the prerogative to change their mind about who they want to vote for, but she was confident of her election.

“Nominations are just nominations, there will be horse trading here, as well as a situation where delegates will change their minds … So far, all those who have come to me to tell me I must accept nomination, have reassured me. Just walking around, people are already calling me DSG,” she said.

Mokonyane got the nod from Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC Youth League as well as the ANC Women’s League. 

However, the name of NEC member Gwen Ramokgopa may be raised from the floor.

Mokonyane believes that the ANC needs to reconnect with ordinary citizens and prioritise a better life for all.

“The ANC cannot be an organisation of summits while there is unemployment and you cannot create jobs for young people. Of importance also, branches of the ANC have to be held accountable as to when last did you convene a community meeting, when last have you done community work. The ANC must be a body of hope for the people,” she said.

Registration glitches

The ANC conference proceedings have been delayed significantly because of registration issues, which it was grappling with. 

Mokonyane explained that the biggest issue the party had to deal with was loading members from Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Limpopo on to its new online membership system. 

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The new system requires each province to upload details of delegates  ahead of the conference, which in this case was not done. In addition, the North West had to redo this process due to an error. 

“I am citing these to show precisely that our biggest regions did not use the new membership system, which then meant that their members and conference profile are not in our system. We then asked that every province must ensure that delegates should upload their profile picture in the system before they come here. What that means is that they come here and they must now take pictures and you must log the picture to the person’s name and then upload it into the system with the information,” she said.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Gauteng ANC defends Premier Lesufi saying party leaders who have run out of ideas must quit” 

The four-day gathering at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Soweto will see the party discuss key policies and make amendments to the ANC constitution. 

There is also the possibility of one more spot being availed for a second deputy secretary to beef up the ANC’s administrative office. 

The political, organisational and financial reports have already been delivered. The party now has to debate and adopt their credentials report to allow for new leadership to be elected. DM