You are invited to a press conference, today, Tuesday 23 May 2017

The press conference will start at exactly 13h30 at the St George’s Anglican Church, 7 Sherborne Rd, Johannesburg, 2193.

This press release is produced on behalf of the ANC stalwarts and veterans (the stalwarts), who are signatories to the document, “For the Sake of our Future”. The stalwarts have been loyal members of the ANC for many decades. Our objective is to continue to serve all the people of South Africa and ensure the historical values and principles of the ANC are restored.

The signatories include all of the remaining members of those imprisoned after the Rivonia Treason Trial. Comrade Kathrada was the first signatory of the document. 

We remember and abide by the oath that every member of the ANC swears on joining, “….without motives of material advantage or personal gain”.

The objectives of this press conference are to:

• Make a statement on behalf of the stalwarts;
• Give an overview of the engagements of the stalwarts with the delegated representatives of the ANC’s National Executive Committee on the preparations for the National Consultative Conference (You may remember there was a decision last year by the National Executive Committee to hold the National Consultative Conference). The discussions have included the timing of the National Consultative Conference;
• Give a progress report on other engagements by the stalwarts with structures of the ANC, Alliance and organisations of civil society;
• Articulate the stalwarts attitude and expectations to events presently unfolding, including the forthcoming ANC’s National Executive Committee and the Constitutional Court deliberations on the question of the procedural issues associated with the forthcoming no confidence vote in Parliament;
• To allow the representatives of the media to engage with the stalwarts on other related matters; and
• To give representatives of the media the opportunity to have in-depth interviews with individual stalwarts, immediately after the press conference.

May we take this opportunity to thank those of you who taken an interest in the activities of the stalwarts; the previous press releases; attended press conferences and interviewed stalwarts. The media have had and will continue to play a critical role in the present crisis that our country and the ANC face.

We hope that you will be able to send senior staff members to this press conference who can critically engage with the stalwarts of our movement and enable you to help to continue to develop a meaningful and constructive dialogue that we believe is so necessary.

If you refer this press release to a specific journalist, would you kindly send their contact details to sakeofourfuture@gmail.com so that any additional information, including an electronic copy of the document and subsequent press releases can be sent directly to her/him.

For post press conference interviews would you kindly communicate via sakeofourfuture@gmail.com and we will attempt to link you up.

We recognise that a significant number of you, as members of the media, will not be located near the venue of the press conference. However, as this is not a provincially based initiative we would like to ensure that you have the opportunity to interview other signatories who may live in your area. Again kindly send your contact details to sakeofourfuture@gmail.com.

For media enquiries and interviews please do not hesitate to contact:

Mpho Kgomotso Mosimane: mosimanemk@gmail.com  +27 (0) 83 222 2327; or
Keith Peacock: keithspeacock@gmail.com +27 (0) 82 464 9458

The Email address is: sakeofourfuture@gmail.com;

The Facebook page is: "https://www.facebook.com/ANCstalwartsandveterans/." It should be noted this is an open Facebook page and posts do not necessarily reflect the collective positions of the signatories to the document "For the Sake of our Future".

We look forward to engaging with you at this press conference. 

This press release has been prepared on behalf of long standing stalwarts of the African National Congress (ANC). We feel a profound responsibility to the movement and the country, to ensure that the principles and values of the ANC are not destroyed. We believe that the overwhelming majority of our citizens embrace the values of the Freedom Charter and the Constitution of our country and share this view.