The African National Congress (ANC) NEC is meeting this weekend in Gauteng where party leaders will give direction on plans for the year ahead.
The meeting comes after former president Jacob Zuma has been campaigning for the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party.
However, ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe told Radio 702 that they will deal with the Zuma issue after the elections as it will distract the party now.
The ANC provincial secretary in KwaZulu-Natal, Bheki Mtolo, said this week that they have started to identify members who are working with other parties, including the MK Party.
Mtolo said their members who are working with other parties will be considered to have left the party, and they will be removed from the national membership register of the ANC.
He said party public representatives working with other parties will face disciplinary action.
The NEC will have its ordinary meeting on Friday and Saturday. But on Sunday, it will have its lekgotla, and it will end on Monday.
The meeting of ANC leaders comes at a time when the economy is continuing to struggle to grow. The economy has recorded negative growth in the last quarter. The economy declined by 0.2% in the third quarter. This was after it grew by 0.6% in the second quarter.
The crisis in logistics has not been resolved, and the Cabinet approved the roadmap to fix the sector.
The ruling party is also expected to look at its election strategy. President Cyril Ramaphosa said last year that they would be campaigning in every ward in the country.
This is the toughest election the ANC has faced over the last three decades. Opposition parties are already talking about coalitions, but ANC leaders have said they will be contesting to win elections and not get into coalitions.
The ANC's support dipped in the last national and provincial elections in 2019.
But it has promised to pull up its socks.
It has also promised to field candidates on the provincial and national lists who are not implicated in corruption, following calls by the veterans.
Ramaphosa has not yet announced the date for the elections, but it is expected that the polls will be held in the next few months.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) will this weekend register overseas voters. But on February 3 and 4, there will be another round of voter registration in South Africa.
This is after the first registration weekend in November last year.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics