‘Every delegate was offered money’: ANC member lays bare what happened at conference

Despite attempts by the ANC’s electoral committee to curb the practice, party leaders appear to have dished out cash to buy votes at the elective conference.

One delegate who said he witnessed such incidents reported that some delegates were given R10,000 while others were offered jobs.

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Penuel Maduna, 22, from Orange Farm, said money was exchanged from the beginning of the nomination process. 

“Even in the build-up towards the branch general meetings, there was a lot of money flowing into those processes for particular leaders to be nominated. I can’t just say it’s one side of the factions, both factions — be it the Ankole or the anti-Ankole — are using a lot of money.”

Asked whether anyone had tried to bribe him, he said: “Every delegate has been offered money in this conference.”

In December 2017, Maduna was waiting outside Nasrec to hear who would be announced as the next ANC president.

But this weekend he was a delegate from the Gilbert Msiginya region. He is one of the youngest voting delegates at the ANC’s 55th national conference at which President Cyril Ramaphosa is seeking a second term.

“My branch entrusted me with the responsibility of coming here and representing them in terms of the policy that we would want the ANC to adopt,” he said.

His passion to improve the country’s education system sparked his interest in politics and, at the age of 14 he joined the Congress of South African Students (Cosas). Joining the ANC Youth League in 2015 was a natural progression for him.

“From Cosas I knew that I had to go to the ANC Youth League and eventually the ANC to contribute to the policy positions of the ANC.”

I can’t just say it’s one side of the factions, both factions — be it the Ankole or the anti-Ankole — are using a lot of money.

—  Penuel Maduna

Maduna, who was booked in a Sandton hotel with 450 other delegates, said his excitement was quickly overshadowed by the logistical difficulties at the conference. 

“There were challenges in terms of registration. Registrations were only finalised on [Friday] instead of [Thursday] as scheduled. It’s been a tiring experience.”

Maduna said “peculiar” goings-on had  been taking place at the conference.

“One would believe that the national conference of the ANC would be characterised by lengthy debates when it comes to policy discussions and how to hold our leaders accountable for the implementation of policies, but that has not been the case,” he said.

“We have seen a flow of money while the workers of Luthuli House have not been paid. There is high unemployment within the ANC, but there is a lot of money spent by ANC leaders who want to emerge into positions of power.

“And it shows that we are witnessing the death of the ANC because if money is going to be used to determine who must lead this organisation, it means that we are not going to have capable leaders who’ll be able to implement policy positions of the ANC when they are deployed into the structures,” he said.

Despite the dark underside of the conference, Maduna said he was optimistic about the role of the younger generation in the party. 

“For the ANC to survive it needs to change the way it conducts its business.”

He said there had been too much focus on factionalism at the conference, and not enough attention was paid to the problems of ordinary people.