Veterans and stalwarts of the African National Congress (ANC) are calling for the national consultative conference recently agreed to by the ANC leadership to take place six months before the pivotal national policy conference in December 2017 to allow dialogue in the movement and related structures.

ANC stalwarts and veterans who are signatories to the document, ‘For the Sake of our Future’ held a press conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday, where they reported on two recent meetings they had held with the ANC leadership.

Last week the ANC agreed to hold a consultative conference, as requested by the veterans, and stated that it would take place before the party's policy conference next year.

However, the stalwarts and veterans are unhappy that the conference they have requested will take place two days before the ANC’s policy conference and have called for distance between the two events.

The stalwarts hope to ensure that the policy conference to follow the consultative conference is an important platform in the process of renewal of the ANC, and the proposed gap between the two is thus important if the events are to mark the beginning of the process to “win back the confidence of the people”.

Stalwart Barbara Masekela said they all had a role to play as stalwarts and added that they were calling for party renewal to rescue the ruling party from the current crisis it was in.

“As people who have been with the movement, we would like for it to remain for future generations. We don't have [personal] interests,” said Masekela.

Another stalwart, Sydney Mufamadi, said the consultative conference would not be an ordinary conference.

“This is occasioned by the crises that the ANC is in. The problems not only affect the ruling party but they also drive social change. We have committed ourselves towards the ANC as we have previously done while doing introspection,” he said.

Mufamadi said they were not only concerned about the challenges in the ruling party but were worried for the sake of South Africa’s future.

"The movement of 1994 has stalled and reversed. Oversight and governance of the ANC is also important,” he added.

The stalwarts and veterans also reiterated that they would consult party structures and branches, civil society, as well as labour, to gather enough input which they felt was needed before the elective conference took place.