GARETH VAN ONSELEN: Mapping the power of the ANC’s membership: 1997-2017
The ANC’s internal election dynamics have taken on a life of their own — apparently entirely detached from electoral performance
ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe recently released a breakdown of those voting branch delegates who will determine the outcome of the ANC’s all-important elective conference in Gauteng, to be held between December 16 and 20. The numbers are as follows:On average, branch delegates have always accounted for about 90% of all delegates the ANC recognises. This is again the case in 2017. The remaining 10% are made up of delegates from the party’s leagues, its national executive committee and provincial executive committees. This analysis focuses exclusively on branch delegates. Every ANC branch with a minimum of 100 members is awarded a delegate. Thereafter, every additional 250 members qualify that branch for an additional delegate. In this way, the party incentivises membership recruitment: the more members a branch has, the greater the number of delegates it can send to conference. Thus, over time, both the ANC’s membership and the size of the branch delegate pool have increased d...
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