Kimberley - ANC Treasurer General Paul Mashatile has assured ANC branches that the party will fulfill the 54th national conference policy resolutions.
Mashatile was addressing a youth and business programme in Galeshewe in Kimberley. This week the ANC celebrates it's 108th birthday with celebrations and community meetings held around the city.
Mashatile said the ANC had not forsaken it's Nasrec policies and was working towards expropriation land without compensation and nationalizing the reserve bank. In December 2017 more than 5 000 delegates met in Nasrec where new policies were adopted.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has been criticised for "overlooking" the Nasrec policy resolutions.
"If I'm asked if radical economic transformation is still the policy of the ANC, my answer is yes. If I'm asked if the Nasrec policy resolutions will be fulfilled, my answer will be yes. We will fulfill the policies adopted by our members. If it is taking too long we will address those issues at the NGC (National General Council). We have a responsibility to our members," Mashatile said.
The Congress of the People (Cope) and civil organisation Afriforum announced that they would join forces to lobby against the ANC's plan to amend the Constitution in order to expropriate land without compensation.
"Mosiuoa Lekota, president of Cope, and Kallie Kriel, CEO of the civil rights organisation AfriForum, will visit foreign embassies in South Africa together to request that the international community apply pressure on the South African government and the ruling ANC to honour the South African Constitution, property rights and the 1994 settlement, and that the ANC accepts that they don’t have a legitimate mandate from South African voters via an election to amend the Constitution," they said jointly.
Deputy President David Mabuza has assured the country that Parliament would stick to its deadline of amending the Constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation. Mabuza said the chairperson of the ad hoc committee on land expropriation, Mathole Motshekga, had given assurances of meeting the deadline.
Parliament set the deadline for March 2020 to conclude the process of amendments to the Constitution. Mabuza also said they would soon table the Expropriation Bill to allow for the expropriationof properties in the public interest or for a public purpose.
Asked why Ramaphosa's speech on Wednesday overlooked glaring questions on land reform, Mashatile said: "We must wait to hear if the president will not address radical economic transformation and land return. Let us not judge his intentions before he gives the January 8 statement. Indeed if he overlooks ANC policy we will have something to answer for".