In just under fortnight, the governing African National Congress gathers in the city of Mangaung in South Africa’s Free State Province, for its 53rd elective conference. The conference will see the party adopt policy resolutions that will inform its manifesto for the 2014 general election and its present-day running of government until then. The party will also see the conference elect the next president of the party (currently being contested by the incumbent, ANC President Jacob Zuma) as well as the election of the party’s next national executive committee.
The outcomes of the conference is therefore a reliable indicator of who the party’s presidential candidate will be for the contesting the 2014 general elections and the election manifesto upon which the party and its presidential nominee will campaign.
In the build-up to the conference, not only has there been intense lobbying and robust internal contestation in contesting positions at the elective conference, the party has also become the target of advocacy and lobbying efforts by key interest groups. In particular, this has included the certain quarters and sections of the South African business sector against the backdrop of ensuring certainty and efficacy in future economic and development policy.
In this articled entitled “Business gets serious about lobbying at Mangaung” which appeared in the December 6, 2012 edition of the Business Day newspaper, writer and author Carol Paton examines this lobbying phenomenon.
Source article:
Click on the internet link or copy into your web browser: http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/2012/12/06/business-gets-serious-over-lobbying-at-mangaung
Click here for the PDF download: “Business gets serious over lobbying at Mangaung” (Carol Paton in Business Day, 6 December 2012)
The article points to the first ever emergence of business lobbies to influence the policy considerations of the party ahead of its June 2012 policy conference and the December 2012 elective conference. It acknowledges the Banking Association South Africa as having trail blazed the phenomenon through its response paper to the ANC’s draft policy document on economic policy and development finance.
The Banking Association South Africa is a valued and long-standing ETHICORE client. As the mandate representative of the banking sector it is responsible for addressing industry issues through advocacy; lobbying; policy influence; guiding transformation in the banking sector; constructive and sustainable change in the sector; and engaging with critical stakeholders.
The broad role of The Banking Association is to “establish and maintain the best possible platform on which banks can do responsible, competitive and profitable banking“. A critical role of The Banking Association is to work with its members to enable this role within the context of the transformation challenges the country is addressing.
The SA banking industry is currently made up of 17 registered banks, 2 mutual banks, 12 local branches of foreign banks, and 41 foreign banks with approved local representative offices.
According the South African Banking Sector Overview, the World Economic Forum Competitive Survey 2012/13 are South African banks 2nd out 144 countries in terms of soundness and the country was rated 3rd in terms of financial sector development.
ETHICORE is proud to have assisted, supported and advised the Banking Association in its research, analysis and formulation of submissions to the ANC on the banking sector’s response to the ANC’s economic policy proposals.