The ANC’s pledge to clean up its image by vetting members has sparked fierce debate, with some applauding its “renewal” and others saying the party should be “thrown away”.
A proposed amendment to the ruling party’s constitution calls for the introduction of stringent criteria to assess prospective members and exclude those found guilty of crime.
The automatic exclusion extends to those who have been found guilty in a court of law of “an offence containing an element of dishonesty and is of a serious nature because of the amount involved or because the money was destined for a project catering for the poor, unemployed or the marginalised in society, or because the perpetrator was an elected ANC leader or a public representative or a civil servant or a person in a position of trust or authority”.
The proposal has drawn mixed reactions.
Some said it is needed to restore faith in the party, while others predicted the ANC would lose a lot of members with such a move. They also claimed nothing can renew the ruling party.
