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Within the ANC, it is regarded as foreign, and uncouth, for a candidate to openly declare their availability and campaign for themselves. After all it is ANC branches that, after careful consideration of draft resolutions, nominate the fitting leadership to implement the adopted resolutions, once adopted.

But times are changing. For the first time, in the 2011 Local Government Elections, the ANC introduced a process where the candidates nominated by a branch should present themselves to the community of the ward they want to be candidates of, in order for the community to participate in the selection of the ANC ward candidate, beyond the ANC members of the branch. This was in recognition of the challenge where some candidates put forward by the ANC were rejected by the community, and some who were rejected by the ANC were accepted by the community and won the ward after standing as independent by candidates.

Towards the 1994 elections, the two debates between FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela were the first, and last public debates among Presidential candidates for office in democratic elections in South Africa.

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In Catholic tradition, the purgatory “is the state of those who die in God’s friendship, assured of their eternal salvation, but who still have need of purification to enter into the happiness of heaven.” Catholics maintain that, “because of the communion of saints, the faithful who are still pilgrims on earth are able to help the souls in purgatory by offering prayers in suffrage for them, especially the Eucharistic sacrifice. They also help them by almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance.”

The ANC and, since it claims to be a microcosm of society, the society, is in a transition. For most of the post-1994 period, as the cancer of unethical conduct continued to grow within the ANC, and society. The multicultural nature of SA society meant that there were, and still are, gray areas in which there was no universal agreement, and by extension condemnation, of certain types of conduct.

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The ANC 54^th National Conference noted, among others;

“An increase in corruption, factionalism, dishonesty, and other negative practices that seriously threaten the goals and support of the ANC. That these practices contradict and damage our mission to serve the people and use the country’s resources to achieve development and transformation. That corruption robs our people of billions that could be used for their benefit.

That the lack of integrity perceived by the public, has seriously damaged the ANC’s image, the people’s trust in the ANC, our ability to occupy the moral high ground, and our position as leader of society. That current leadership structures seem helpless to arrest these practices, either because they lack the means or the will, or are themselves held hostage by them.

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An obvious fact that is rarely considered is that the absolute territorial body control of oneself specifically ends at the tips of one’s own limbs. Beyond that you have very little, if any, control or jurisdiction in your environment, people around you or people you choose to associate with.

It is a matter of fact that if you are a man, you have full control on what to do with your penis, on your own, or with those who consent to doing something with you that involves it. You have complete liberty to do with it as you wish.

With the advances in technology, apparently you may now even bequeath it when you die, for surgeons at the University of Stellenbosch, in Cape Town, to transplant it to someone who might need it. It is your penis.

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The African National Congress (ANC) will, later this year, hold its 54th National Conference, which among others will elect the national leadership of the organization for a five-year term, assuming that part of the ANC Constitution will not change.

Fortunately, the nominations for the leaders that will be elected are not yet open, so this text (and its author) is unlikely to be misperceieved as punting one leader or the other. However, discussing the principles around leadership is encouraged in preparation for the nomination time.

At its January 2017 Lekgotla, the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) said, through the a media statement,

“Branches will hold their BGMs/BAGMs during September and October 2017. In line with the 2016 NGC Resolution that the branch is the basic unit of the ANC, that slates must be outlawed and that serious action must be taken to prevent and deal with the practice of slate, the NEC resolved [to] do away with the practice of consolidating nominations for leadership at a regional and provincial level. Branches must be given the right to nominate. Consolidation at other levels tampers with the authority of the branches to nominate. All nominations for leadership from branches will be consolidated nationally by the Electoral Commission.”

This is a noble and very necessary intervention by the NEC. It will probably be followed by clear guidelines on how the nomination process should unfold. Until then, it seems practically unworkable, desirable as it may be.

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The 2012 Constitution of the ANC provides that any member has a right to elect and to be elected to any structure of the ANC. It has implicit exclusion of those whose first time membership is less than 6 months. During that period, a provisional member can neither vote nor be voted for.

However, the constitution further imposes additional requirements for election to specific structures. It prescribes that for election to the NEC, a person must have been a member for at least 10 years. For the PEC, a person must have been a member for at least 7 years, five years for the REC and two years for the BEC.

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I read with interest, the speech by Cde Blade Nzimande, the SACP General Secretary, to the Central Committee of COSATU. As always, I was interested in how the vanguard of the working class will inspire hope among millions of unemployed youth and casualised workers. I had also read the text of the Political Report to the 2^nd Special National Congress of the SACP held in December 2009 for the same reasons a few years ago.

I do not have paid membership of the SACP and my Young Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA) membership expired about 4 years ago, but I remain committed to the struggle for socialism because I believe capitalism is a crime which is a source of all problems in society.

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Kuningi okwenzakele onyakeni ka-2009. Enye yezinto eziqavile engike ngagxila kuzona kube ubukhona kobandlululo kubantu abahlukene. Ukucwasana ngokwebala nokucwasana ngokobulili ikona okuyaye kuthathe inxenye enkulu uma kukhulunywa ngobandlululo. Kepha kukhona nobandlululo ngokobuzwe, engizogxila kukhona kusiqephu sesibili salombhalo. Kulesiqephu ngifisa ukugxila kubandlululo lobulili.

Ngaphambi kokuba ngiqhubeke ngithanda ukukubeka kucace ukuthi angisisona isitabane okanye ungqingili. Kodwa nginabo abangani abayidlanzana abayizitabane.

Kuyihlazo ukuthi esikhathini samanje kusenabantu abangakwazi ukubekezelela ukwehluka kwemibono nabanye abantu. Esikhathini esiphambili kuke kwaba nokungabekezelelani ngokokholo, kodwa manje abantu abaningi sebeyakwemukela ukuthi kunezinkolo ezahlakene futhi abantu banelungelo lokulandela inkolo abayithandayo noma abacabanga ukuthi iyona ebasebenzelayo. Kodwa uma kuza kwezokuthandana kunabantu abangafuni ukwamukela ukuthi wonke umuntu unelungelo lokuzikhethela.

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