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the social-democratic Reconstruction <strong>and</strong> Development Programme (RDP) nationaleconomic development programme, with the neoliberal GEAR economic policy. Asa prominent <strong>and</strong> notorious example, M<strong>and</strong>ela <strong>and</strong> Mbeki had presented GEAR in1996 as a fait accompli, citing the non-negotiability <strong>of</strong> ‘globalisation’ when it wasclearly the position <strong>of</strong> the organisation at large that “(w)hile globalisation is a reality,it is not a fixed <strong>and</strong> unchallengeable process in which there are no alternatives”. 406The introduction <strong>of</strong> GEAR heightened an already-simmering debate within thetripartite alliance about the future direction <strong>of</strong> domestic economic policy, <strong>and</strong>started to strain relations between the ANC <strong>and</strong> its alliance partners.The ruling party exercises significant influence on decision-making structures,notwithst<strong>and</strong>ing the occasional independent political stances <strong>of</strong> individual seniorparty members. This is because the same individuals occupy key decision-makingpositions in both the Executive (President, Deputy President, most CabinetMinisters <strong>and</strong> some Directors-General) <strong>and</strong> in the ruling party, especially theNational Executive Committee <strong>and</strong> the smaller National Working Committee. 407According to Ebrahim Ebrahim, a senior ANC member, who also served as Chair<strong>of</strong> the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs,Policy comes from the ANC, from the resolutions passed at the ANC congress, tothe NEC (it has a subcommittee on foreign affairs) which meets every 2 months. Itstarts with the President’s report, which always includes international affairs. Thenthere is general discussion. It can make recommendations, amendments, <strong>and</strong>critiques. For example, on the question <strong>of</strong> Nepad <strong>and</strong> the Renaissance, which camefrom the Presidency, it was discussed by the NEC <strong>and</strong> then endorsed. 408While the Party’s apparently democratic policymaking processes may allow forconsiderable grassroots input on a wide array <strong>of</strong> policy questions, from local branch,to Regional Executive Committee, to NEC, Lodge identifies an important anomalyin the social identity <strong>of</strong> the ANC:The social character <strong>of</strong> its following prompts the ANC to maintain that it provides‘a disciplined force <strong>of</strong> the left’, representing ‘the needs <strong>and</strong> aspirations <strong>of</strong> the406 African National Congress. 1997. “Resolutions: International Relations”, accessedonline at:http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?include=docs/res/1997/resolutions4.html&ID=2432 on21 November 2010.407 Van Nieuwkerk, “South Africa <strong>and</strong> African Crises”, 106.408 Ebrahim, Ebrahim. 2003. Cited in Ibid., p107.172

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