ANC Executive Body Holds First Meeting, Will Discuss Eskom Transfer Plan

The African National Congress' (ANC) newly elected National Executive Committee (NEC) will hold its first meeting today to elect a 27-member National Working Committee (NWC) before further discussions over the weekend.

• The 87-member NEC is the ANC's top executive body elected every five years at the party's national conference. The NEC then elects a smaller NWC to run the party's day-to-day business and implement the NEC's strategies.
• For clarity, both committees include the party's "Top Seven" (formerly "Top Six") officials, namely the President and other senior executives, in addition to the elected members.
• The Mail & Guardian reported that the NEC this weekend will discuss the details of moving state-owned entities out of the Department of Public Enterprises and into the appropriate ministries, a move that had been touted at the ANC's elective conference.
• The plan to reallocate SOEs involves transferring Eskom to the Department of Minerals and Energy. The ANC's meeting this weekend may shed some light on the process of shifting the control over the beleaguered utility.
• The conclusions of the NEC meeting will feed into next week's Cabinet deliberations, with a debate on the administration reshuffle expected to be on the agenda, ahead of President Ramaphosa's State of the Nation address scheduled for February 9.