Delays in implementing state bank and land resolutions hampering the revolution, says KZN ANC

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal believes that failure to give conference resolutions equal attention, resulting in the delayed implementation of them, is tantamount to sabotaging the national democratic revolution. 

So the party, after its two-day lekgotla, has resolved to spearhead discussions on the expropriation of land without compensation and the establishment of a state bank at the national general council (NGC), set to take place in May or June.

Provincial chairperson Sihle Zikalala, outlining outcomes of the ANC's lekgotla, said: ''The slow pace of the process of the amendment of the constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation undermines our revolution. As we go to the NGC, we must advance the point quite clearly that this is tantamount to sabotaging the revolution itself.” 

The ANC resolved to expropriate land without compensation at its national elective conference in December 2017, which it followed up in February 2018 when it supported an EFF motion in the National Assembly to expropriate without compensation.

Parliament’s ad hoc committee tasked with finalising the expropriation of land without compensation recently announced that it is on track to table a bill on the proposed amendments to the constitution by March.

However, the party in KZN says this has delayed progress.

“This year alone, according to the allocations announced by the minister of agriculture, only nine farms have been allocated in KZN for distribution. This is why we still insist that we need to advance expropriation without compensation,” said Zikalala.

“When we go to the NGC, we will have to raise our disappointment with those who have been in charge with leading the process of the amendment of the constitution and for the ANC’s failure to mobilise communities for contribution to the amendment.”

At the party’s last policy conference, delegates gave the NEC an ultimatum to ensure that a state bank is up and running within six months. The ANC resolved to establish a state bank more than 13 years ago and the expectation was that an ANC government would expedite the matter with the Reserve Bank.

In March, the select and standing committees on finance welcomed measures announced for the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund and a state-owned commercial bank.

Zikalala said the ANC in KZN was also not satisfied with the manner in which the NEC “led us in the issue of the state bank” and said the party had decided that too should be considered for discussion at the NGC.

“The amendment that was effected on the state bank undermines the possibility of banks in provinces being legislated. Surprisingly, when the act was amended, all contributions up until the NCOP [National Council of Provinces] were very clear that state organs must be allowed to own banks.

“Only after the NCOP was an  amendment inserted to allow only national entities to own banks. This is tantamount to sabotaging the objectivity of that resolution and it is meant to protect monopolies and oligopolies,” he explained.

The NCOP select committee on finance in 2019 adopted the Financial Matters Amendment Bill, which contains the enabling provision for state-owned banks, allowing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to establish banks.

Zikalala said ANC branches at the NGC will interrogate the progress of these resolutions.

“If the problem is with certain individuals who are in government, those individuals must be exposed for the lack of consciousness and their failure to implement the programmes of the organisation,” he added.

The NGC is an ANC gathering held halfway between the five-yearly ANC conferences to evaluate the party’s success in implementing policy resolutions.

TimesLIVE