September 20, 2010 Edition 2
CARIEN DU PLESSIS, CHRISTELLE TERREBLANCHE and sapa
IT COST R500 000 for the privilege of having dinner with President Jacob Zuma in Durban last night, and the construction engineering firm Sitsabo Project Managers were the ones who forked out at the ANC's fundraising banquet.
Director Sitsabo Dlamini told The Star that 10 business executives from the BEE company, with offices in Durban and Joburg, wanted to use the opportunity to talk to Zuma about the economy.
"We decided to sponsor the table because we see the good work the ANC is doing in shaping the economic landscape," he said.
Prominent businessman Patrice Motsepe was also at Zuma's side, sharing a table - decorated with a crystal candle-holder and a crown - and his cabinet.
It's a cabinet that stands divided over key issues, and a conference that is fractured by competing factions. Indications are that the cabinet is divided over issues such as economic policy and land reform.
Also looming over the NGC is the party's succession debate.
Zuma faces the greatest test of his leadership since assuming control of the party at its Polokwane elective conference in 2007.
The NGC is intended to review progress made on decisions taken at Polokwane. However, positions on policy have become inextricably linked with the leadership question, confronting Zuma with a difficult choice over who to side with.
He alluded to this dilemma in his prepared speech last night at the dinner, when he told delegates that the gathering was important to ensure the ruling party remained united and strong ahead of its centenary celebration in 2012.
"We have to ensure the ANC is strong, united and focused on achieving its mission of uniting the people of this country and to create a better life for all in a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society."
But the divided cabinet means top ANC leaders in the government are going into the NGC without a united position for the first time since 2000 - meaning policy battles are going to be fought out on the floor.
"Policy is almost totally fluid,"|a cabinet minister said yesterday.
Another said "considerable contestation" was expected - meaning the political temperature is expected to soar over the next few days. It also means critical policy choices - including the nationalisation of mines and agricultural land, a media appeals tribunal, monetary policy such as inflation targeting, a proposed ban on party officials taking top municipal positions, and a review of BEE - are essentially up for grabs.
Provincial ANC chairpersons have been caucusing in recent weeks to agree to block any attempts to launch a debate on succession that could hijack the policy deliberations, and a clear message has been sent to ANC Youth League delegates that any humiliation of Zuma would not be allowed.
Zuma is under pressure from the youth league, demanding a generational change in leadership, and from Cosatu, seeking fundamental economic reforms.
There is also anger among the ANC's rank and file over perceptions that Zuma's family and close associates are enriching themselves while millions of South Africans are jobless, live in grinding poverty and lack proper services.
At the banquet, Zuma welcomed the business delegates' interes
"Funding for political parties is somehow viewed with suspicion by some commentators," he said. "However, wise business sense tells you that investing in the ANC, which is supported by more than 65 percent of the population, is good value for your m
Zuma's nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, the chairman of Aurora Empowerment Systems, arrived surrounded by an entourage of other businessmen, while Durban businessman Vivian Reddy was spotted greeting people.
Don Mkhwanazi - another leading KwaZulu-Natal businessman and a key figure in the fundraising to cover Zuma's legal expenses while fighting corruption charges - was also among the businessmen who mingled with ministers, |their deputies and Cosatu leader Zwelinzima Vavi over glasses of La Motte sauvignon blanc and Leopard's Leap merlot.
The dinner began slightly behind schedule as Renier Schoeman, one of the co-ordinators of the party's Progressive Business Forum, which hosted the dinner, and Minister in the Presidency for planning Trevor Manuel, moved smoothly between the guests, ensuring all were comfortable.
Registration for the event took place in the underground parking area, where two ANC Women's League leaders - Social Development Minister Edna Molewa and Deputy Correctional Services Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize - were seen waiting to be registered.
Mkhize said the league was "rather apprehensive" because it would be the first time it had been given an opportunity to present a gender paper to the plenary.
"But I don't see anything to be apprehensive about, it is a great opportunity," Mkhize said.
Another minister, who did not speak on the record, said he did not expect any surprises at the party's five-day gathering, but added the early squabbles over leadership were the party's fault.
He said that in the more than two years since the party's national conference in Polokwane in 2007, there had been no movement to develop the policy on which the conference had agreed.
He said the government's intervention in the economy had been one of the resolutions, but had not been developed.
He also said the proposal for a media appeals tribunal should have been investigated by the party, but had also barely been developed.
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