Johannesburg - The 55th ANC National Conference is being held under strict conditions, with members of the media warned about doing as they please.
On Friday, during the first day of the conference, ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe told members of the media to refrain from unilaterally grabbing NEC members or delegates by the hand on the spot without a prior arrangement with the party’s department of information and publicity (DIP) team or risk being kicked out of Nasrec for failure to abide by these rules.
This arrangement was announced during the first day of the conference by ANC spokesperson Mabe, who said this is their last moment as the current ANC leadership and therefore deserve a bit of respect.
Mabe said requests for interviews with NEC members and members of the cabinet should be made through himself and members of his team, adding that the requests would be assessed and denied or granted depending on the circumstances at hand.
He said this was to ensure there is no chaos or confusion where messages are miscommunicated in the media like in the past.
He said it was his team’s job to facilitate interviews with members of the ANC, adding that they needed to keep a handle on what was happening and what was being communicated.
"We have a special request because this is the conference of the ANC, and the national spokesperson of the ANC is one, and that is Pule Mabe. I speak for president of the ANC until the last member of the NEC and all structures of the ANC. I know that you might not have respected each other throughout, but please give me my last honour. It is my last weekend.
"Just do this thing through us. Just request it, even if you do not respect us. Just for this weekend, show us some little honour. Please ask us if you can speak to any of the members of the ANC NEC or delegates.
"If you go and drag the presidential spokesperson because he does not bring himself to you, it is yourselves who drag them and do interviews with them. You can’t disrespect us on the radio and disrespect us again during our own conference," he said.
Mabe said the ANC comes first, adding that they will not be told what to do at their own conference.
"We have to put the ANC first in what we do, and because the unity of the ANC is sacrosanct, how we act is important and goes beyond our own wishes as individual cadres. It affirms that which the organisation wants to see happening, which is acting in the good and interests of our members,“ he said.
Mabe added that ANC members whose membership is not in good standing will not be allowed to participate in the affairs and programmes of the 55th ANC conference.
"If your membership is not paid up and you are not in good standing, you would not be able to participate in the conference. We have had to remove eight or so volunteers from the Department of Information (DIP) because their membership was not up to date. The same applies if you are a delegate and your membership is not up to date; you run the risk of not being registered," he said.
The Star