Johannesburg - The African National Congress (ANC) has given itself until later this year to develop an "accountability framework" policy envisaged to ensure that party deployees in government toe the line and would give the party some teeth in dealing with its deployees who find themselves on the other side of the law, the party said on Monday.
ANC secretary general Ace Magashule said that the party's Lekgotla, held over the weekend following the meeting of the party's National Executive Committee (NEC), was emphatic that the ANC government must take urgent and decisive action to root out corruption, create jobs and improve access to education.
The January Lekgotla is one of two called by the ANC every year to assess the implementation of commitments made and to provide guidance to government planning and the preparation of the State of the Nation Address (SONA).
"A clear accountability framework for all cadres operating in the state will be developed within eight months. The accountability framework is expected to include provisions for enforcement and consequence management where cadres do not perform as expected. The ANC will also build its internal capacity to give policy direction to its elected representatives as well as creating a monitoring mechanism," Magashule said.
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"[The] Lekgotla was instructive that the actions of government must, at all times, affirm the ANC as strategic centre of power with authority over the state. The ANC has never been uncertain about policy instruments it should employ in order to achieve our objectives.
"Cadres deployed in government must therefore be diligent to understand and propagate the views of the movement on any given matter and where unsure, seek clarity from the ANC."
Magashule was speaking during the post-NEC media briefing at the party's headquarters in Johannesburg.
Magashule said that the Lekgotla was resolute on the urgent need to act decisively to rebuild the bond between the ANC and the people.
"The ANC is committed to reclaiming the moral legitimacy of our movement and restoring the integrity of the ANC. We were unanimous that we have now entered a new period of renewal, underpinned by unity of the ANC, the Alliance, the broader mass democratic movement and ultimately unity of the people of South Africa around a shared vision of fundamental transformation," Magashule said.
"In pursuit of this goal, the ANC directs its structures and the government it to work decisively to arrest the negative tendencies that have been creeping into our movement. The ANC must once again become a campaigning organization rooted amongst our people, engaged in ongoing open and mass recruitment."
Meanwhile, Magashule said that the Lekgotla resolved that all party structures that are due to hold conferences are directed to do so no later than June this year and uniform guidelines for conferences across the country developed by the NEC.
This comes after the ANC disbanded provincial executive committees of KwaZulu-Natal and Free State which the courts had nullified.