ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe says so far the ANC’s policy conference at Nasrec is going well and delegates are having robust debates on important issues.
There have been suggestions that the chair of the ANC’s Disciplinary Committee Derek Hanekom should face disciplinary action for saying that delegates suggestions on land expropriation were rubbish.
But Mantashe says people cannot be disciplined for disagreeing with suggestions made. He says the ANC will come out of the conference more united.
The national chair of the ANC as well as the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbetethe, also confirmed that the conference is going very well.
Read: Heated debate over economy a proxy battle for succession fight" #ANCNPC
I think we have to be more open minded as South Africans coming from different sectors, business, trade union movements and politicians, this is our country. If one side of the society is going to stand in corners and point fingers and not take responsibility we will sink together.
— Baleka Mbetethe, Speaker of the National Assembly
Right now we are in junk status. The things the ANC is raising must be listened to from the perspective that whether we like it or not these are challenges of the society. We can't have one sector of society owning the economic activities of the country and pressing into dark corners the majority of the people, which is black people, it is not sustainable.
— Baleka Mbetethe, Speaker of the National Assembly
Mbete says the debates on whether there is white monopoly capital or just monopoly capital doesn't matter, it's just "useless semantics".
It is monopoly capital and here in South Africa it is white because of the history of this country.
— Baleka Mbetethe, Speaker of the National Assembly
To hear more of this interviews, listen below:
This article first appeared on CapeTalk : Mbete and Mantashe welcome robust debate at policy conference