Best Of HuffPost SA: ANC Policy Conference Day One

Missed all the action at the conference? Don't stress, we got you.
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma gestures during his opening address.
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma gestures during his opening address.
Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters

1. Our intrepid team of reporters were all over the African National Congress's (ANC) policy conference at Nasrec, in the south of Johannesburg, like a Gupta deployee on an Eskom tender. From a no-carbs cabinet minister to a high-security media 'chicken run', this is what they saw.

2. Party unity above all is the ANC's mantra going into its six-day national policy conference in Johannesburg. Regaining lost trust is also high on the agenda. Gwede Mantashe told HuffPost SA, "People are going to judge us by the actions we are taking. So when we say you can't just reshuffle willy-nilly, people notice. When you begin to say don't reinstate the CEO of Eskom, people notice." Watch here.

3. An unshaken and unassailable President Jacob Zuma amplified the call for party unity in his opening speech, before moving off-script to mock his critics and question democratic tenets like the rule of law. Read here.

4. Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba told business leaders that radical economic transformation is about the ANC getting back to basics and rediscovering its revolution roots. He also said the ANC "insists" on the independence of the Reserve Bank. Read here and here.

5. On questions of political instability in the ANC, Nomvula 'All-You-Have-To-Do-Is-Pick-Up-The-Rand' Mokonyane said ANC leaders must communicate more consistently how the economy still reflects 'colonialism of a special type', dominated by a "very white, male, chauvinistic and backward minority". Read here.

6. President Jacob Zuma initially said the party reaffirms the independence of the judiciary and press, then went on to accuse the opposition of sloganeering and running to the courts "at the drop of a hat". Watch the top 3 highlights from his (90 minute plus) speech here.

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