An ANC NEC member, Dr Gwen Ramakgopa said, only the party’s national conference can reverse the step-aside resolution.
As the ANC kicked off its policy conference, at least three of its provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo have indicated that they want to re-introduce the debate on step-aside rule to be reviewed and scrapped during the policy conference.
These provinces have faced opposition from the Eastern Cape which said step-aside is a crucial aspect of the process of the party renewal. The province said a debate on step-aside should be about strengthening it instead of scrapping it.
Ramakgopa also said the step-aside was adopted in the ANC’s 54th national conference resolution and only a national conference can adopt another resolution to reverse it.
She said the provinces that are leading the debate on scrapping the step-aside have members who have been affected after being elected into leadership positions.
“Part of our concerns for instance in the case of Mpumalanga, Ethekwini and possibly Limpopo are having people who are on step-aside standing to be elected and once elected they had to recuse themselves, after that those positions became redundant,” said Ramakgopa.
She said the step-aside has a huge support in various ANC structures.
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