As the issue of potentially devastating 30% import tariffs ordered by US President Donald Trump hung over the ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting this weekend, some members of the committee were more concerned with keeping warm and finding decent coffee.
The party had decided to move the meeting from the usual venue — the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg — amid a dispute over unpaid bills.
On Friday the four-day meeting of the NEC — the party’s highest decision-making body between national congresses — began at another hotel in Ormonde, in Johannesburg’s southern region. But this venue proved unsatisfactory.
“We were literally at a school hall,” said one unhappy NEC member. “We didn’t have proper coffee stuff and that’s the one thing we really need because we are there for so long.”
Even worse, the signature beverage of the US was unavailable.
Come lunch time we are given these hard buns, they didn’t afford even real Coca-Cola, we were given something called Kingsley [Cola]. The whole thing didn’t make sense
— ANC NEC member
“Come lunch time we are given these hard buns. They didn’t afford even real Coca-Cola; we were given something called Kingsley [Cola]. The whole thing didn’t make sense.”
This NEC member said the chaotic planning for the meeting clearly pointed to “some financial problems” in the party that members were not apprised of.
Some elderly ANC leaders were so cold at Ormonde they resorted to buying warm jackets from vendors selling party regalia and paraphernalia outside the venue.
The meeting was eventually moved to the Ekurhuleni Civic Centre in Germiston. Some NEC members said this was because the Ormonde venue presented a “security risk”.
NEC members also complained that staff at Luthuli House had printed too few documents for all members, apparently because of “constrained resources”.
But the problems continued at the civic centre, where NEC members waited almost two hours for food during their lunch break. Delegates said they were not prepared to continue with the discussions on empty stomachs.
This delayed debate of critical agenda items, including the future of the government of national unity (GNU) and the impact of the Trump tariffs.
The minister of electricity & energy, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, in his capacity as a member of the NEC subcommittee on economic transformation, said Washington DC had yet to respond to the government’s overtures for a trade deal.
The government has sent two proposals aimed at averting the looming tariff hike, which will have a particularly devastating impact on the auto assembly industry and agriculture.
“We are still to receive a response. So the rate at which we’re able to resolve this is also a function of the response we are getting from the counterparty,” said Ramokgopa.
Ramokgopa said the government was investing in protecting its relationship with the US while at the same looking for alternative export markets.
“I want to emphasise that for objective and subjective reasons. I think it’s in our interest that we do that [protect the relationship], and I had made the point earlier on that simultaneously we’re going to ensure that we look for alternative markets,” he said.
Ramokgopa indicated that the ANC was standing firm on its BEE policies and would not amend them to please Trump, who says BEE discriminates against whites.
Ramokgopa said BEE remains a “principal anchor of the transformation agenda” and the country was “not about to relent on it”.
“As a sovereign state, we reserve the right to make our policy choices having due regard of our domestic conditions.
“So I don’t think that we will be prescribed to from outside ... When all is said and done, as a sovereign nation we will reserve the right to determine what these choices are and live with them.
“And we don’t think that broad-based BEE ... requires substantial revision.”
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