Reporter’s Notebook: Corralled media, accreditation messiness – the not-the-ANC conference

17 Dec 2022

With journalists corralled behind fences, watched by police and ANC marshals, the sellers of party regalia and food hawkers who traditionally gather at governing party elective indabas are kept even further away – way past the Nasrec entrance at the intersection with the Nyala, razor wire and security troops.

It’s different to 2017 when the sellers were at least on the actual Nasrec grounds, and delegates in between commissions, debates and discussions could peruse to pick up the latest yellow, green and black accoutrement and garb.

This time round in 2022 there are no distractions, unless it’s delegates’ jokes about their messy registration tags. Plenty of those tags have the photos upside down, have names the wrong way round and the ANC logo seems to be on the left sometimes, other times to the right.

Nightmare registration

That registration of delegates was a nightmare emerged on Day 1 of the ANC 2022 elective conference, the start of which was delayed to post lunch, but then 2pm became 4pm.

Those tags are crucial to show the legitimate right to attend, and they allow access to plenary, commission and elsewhere.

Now if those defective tags had been around the necks of journalists, access may well have been barred, and uncomfortable questions would have followed. Because, unless summoned, media are in a secure area, behind fences under police and ANC marshalls and ANC security guards. With an occasional visit from other law enforcement types — although this time round State Security Agency (SSA) is understood to have been kept off premises.

That’s not to say the SSA had no role. They did, according to the Nasrec grapevine, to accredit media and guests and law enforcement and security and, and, and… With intelligence funding all a bit of a cloak-and-dagger affair, word is the SSA does this kind of accreditation to raise some extra money.

Editors’ Forum nixed R11,000 set-up fee

Whether the cash-strapped ANC has that handy, remains to be seen. At one stage the governing party wanted media houses to pay R11,000 to set up. That was nixed, with the intervention of the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef), apparently.

To be fair, the SSA registration, unlike the ANC registration of its delegates, actually worked, even if some of the diplomats may have felt somewhat not-so-well treated. On the ANC delegate registration front, by the time ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa had delivered his political report speech, around 7pm, scores of delegates remained unregistered — and tagless.

But it was in that brief moment between the end of the speech and the delegates singing their elective preferences — KwaZulu-Natal has been particularly vocal — the iron fist dropped a little. Some chitchat was possible.

Given the fenced-in media corral, interactions happen at the will and the schedule of ANC officials, ministers in their capacity as ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) members and other VIPs.

Several government spin doctors sporting governing party T-shirts popped by to chat and such. None seemed perturbed about a possible blurring of boundaries of state and party, even if only in the realm of public perception. It was the weekend, and presence at the ANC elective gathering was at capacity as ANC members in good standing — after all the public service rulebook allows the freedom of party membership.

Finish and klaar.

Eventually, that was also Day 1, paused for dinner and police blue lights escorted transport back to accommodation, wherever that may be. Some buses stopped at the food and ANC regalia traders down the road for a bite and a purchase, perhaps. The larnies were encamped in Sandton.

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All this is a far cry from the 2002 Stellenbosch ANC conference — the swearword “ultra-leftist” ultimately was turned into a joke by Day 5.

Pre-prepared media accreditation tags were collected, also for colleagues. No fences were put up, and uniformed police remained present, but not in everyone’s face. Nor were ANC marshals forming human chains; delegates and journalists could, and did, mingle and chat. Fears about leaks and such were at a low simmer; everyone knew you don’t need to chat face-to-face to pass on information. Duh.

Tick over the rainy and tense 2007 Polokwane ANC elective conference that saw Jacob Zuma elected party president amid terse moments of loud agitation, in a now-historic turn for the governing party.

At the 2012 Mangaung conference delegates, ANC honchos and journalists still could mingle, chat and, yes, share a joke or two. The traders of ANC regalia were in full force. Not that Mangaung was any less contentious, with the last-minute election of Ramaphosa to the party deputy presidency.

Nasrec 2017 was a different game, as is Nasrec 2022. With the fences, repeat X-ray security checks, SSA, police and law enforcement of all types, ANC marshals, ANC security and more.

On closing of Day 1, a hive of security — presidential, high risk, ANC and what what — moved on to the stage to surround Ramaphosa and his deputy David “DD” Mabuza, with former president Thabo Mbeki also seen in the mix.

Then the ANC VVIP security hive moved out.

And to mind comes Berthold Brecht’s (satirical) poem Die Lösung (The Solution),

“After the uprising of the 17th of June
The Secretary of the Writers’ Union
Had leaflets distributed on the Stalinallee
Which stated that the people
Had squandered the confidence of the government
And could only win it back
By redoubled work [quotas]. Would it not in that case
Be simpler for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?”

DM

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Nightmare registration

Editors’ Forum nixed R11,000 set-up fee