ANC's 5th National General Council: A chance to draw a line in the sand?

The African National Congress (ANC) meets in Ekurhuleni this week for its 5th National General Council.

Delegates will gather under the theme of 'The Year of Renewal'.

It's a call, the party says, to the ANC to become a more 'effective instrument of the people' and to revive the vision of the Freedom Charter.

For ANC MP Faiez Jacobs, the NGC is a crucial moment.

In a welcome note to delegates, he says South Africa is living with two truths at once. Making progress on the one hand, more stable energy, better ratings, rising job numbers, and improving global confidence, but those 'wins' are being threatened by corruption.

Jacobs believes this week's NGC offers a real chance to change the party's direction.

"We need to remind our delegates going there that they could either be part of the similar factions, leadership fights, or they could do the real work."

The real issue of the day, he says, is the 'Mafia State'.

"We are concerned about our whistleblowers not being protected enough."

And it's not only a party political issue, suggests Jacobs, but it's also a widespread phenomenon.

"I'm making the case for ANC members to say, look, this cannot continue, and this General Council, it must respond to say this is the line in the sand, 'No more corruption!'"

Jacobs describes the 'criminal rule' which runs through municipalities and the idea of a 'shadow state'.

"All of these mafia cartels, we need to confront them, we need to be bold, and not turn the other way."

"You see that phenomenon, and it is also there in the ANC; this commission has just brought that to daylight."

Jacobs says this NGC is a moment for the ANC to reflect.

Read Jacobs' full statement to General Counsel delegates below:

'Comrades, cadres, and delegates still travelling whether from Mitchells Plain or Musina, from Umlazi or Upington, welcome. You have a lot on your shoulders. You are not just attending another conference. You are walking into a moment of decision that will define our beloved movement and our country for a decade.

Let’s speak honestly: You can arrive here to play the same games, factional/slate whispering, palace coups, coded slates, proxies for leaders' ego, ambition, patronage networks, personality politics, and fake unity speeches. Or you can walk in representing an ANC that draws a clear line in the sand: This is not what we struggled for.

This is not why we went underground, marched, organised, and risked our lives. We did not fight for a shadow state run by mafias in uniform. We did not fight to look away while whistle-blowers are killed. Delegates are not here to perform. You are here to decide direction, set priorities, and enforce accountability. Your mandate is not to protect interests; it is to defend the republic.

We are facing two truths at once: South Africa is making progress: energy stabilising, ratings improving, job numbers inching up, global confidence returning. And criminal sovereignty is threatening to erase those gains: cartels in construction, kidnapping syndicates, corruption in policing, shadow networks in procurement, and political money ruled by gangster logic.

Ordinary South Africans are exhausted by fear. Everyone knows someone who has been robbed, hijacked, kidnapped, bullied by extortion mafias, or failed by a corrupt official. The NGC must respond. To all non-ANC South Africans reading this: Here’s why the NGC matters Do not believe the “ANC is finished” cartoon pushed by reactionaries and conservative elites who want a divided movement and a weak black government.

They know that a broken ANC means a broken South Africa. NGCs matter because: They are where policy becomes practice. They are where internal accountability can be enforced. They are where the economic emergency agenda can be aligned with criminal justice reform. They are where we decide if whistle-blowers live or die. They are where we decide if SAPS serves the Constitution or syndicates. They are where we choose between renewal with consequences or recycling the same impunity. NGCs are not “party gossip conferences.” They are national security platforms in disguise.

Every policy resolution touches the daily life of a South African: The price of electricity. The safety of a child walking to school. Whether a tender goes to thieves or builders. Whether a witness is protected or killed. Whether prosecutors get support or get silenced. This is what’s at stake: The rule of law. The survival of constitutional democracy. The integrity of the state. The future of the economy. If the ANC does not act, cartels will govern. Your mandate as a delegate is not here to protect comrades. You are here to protect South Africa.

Your task: Focus on people's real issues, don’t let side issues derail us. Prioritise the economy, our people and criminal justice reform first. Accountability has real consequences for impunity. Courage to speak truth in caucus, not only in corridors. Integrity to stand for whistle-blowers, not looters. We don’t need another long document. We need a decision. We need a direction. We need a line in the sand.

Delegates: the country is watching. History is watching. Babita’s children are watching. Witness D’s family is watching. South Africa is not asking for perfection. It is asking for courage. It is asking for someone, finally, to say: Enough. No more looking away. No more protecting criminals in uniform. No more sacrificing whistle-blowers. No more excuses. Welcome to the NGC. Make it count.

To listen to Jacobs in conversation with CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit, click below: