When historians reflect objectively about the life and times of the ANC, how might their final volume about the “glorious movement” read?
The ANC is going through difficult times. Former president Thabo Mbeki has been blunt about the poor state of the ANC, and the factors that may have contributed to its state of decline.
He holds the view that the organisation has been infiltrated by “foreign” elements he describes as “careerists”. In his view, these elements have a scant understanding of what the organisation’s broader mission in society is.
Could Mbeki be right in his assessment, or could this amount to an inconsequential rant that should be rejected?
Consider the state of our municipalities throughout the country. If you like, narrow this down to some municipalities in Free State. Go to Mangaung. The heart immediately sinks. The filth; the potholes; the broken streets, all of these things greet you with a pungent stench. And this is replicated in many other municipalities.
Read the damning reports of the auditor-general. Visit North West and see the poor state in which communities live in their dysfunctional locations. Pigsty after pigsty is what has become the experience of millions of South Africans, with raw sewage snaking down the country’s streets day after day.
The Zondo report told us who the culprits are, and why they should be investigated by the criminal investigation agencies.
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s report is succinct. If we connect the dots, Mbeki’s words are illuminating. A smaller, and effective ANC would be better, Mbeki said.
Recently, minister Blade Nzimande told us as he stepped down as SACP general secretary how the communists were led to believe the Polokwane-elected regime of Jacob Zuma would be a better proposition.
But as things turned out, said Nzimande, those who supported the project were sold a dummy and lied to. In fact, said Nzimande, the Polokwane project morphed into something very ugly – it became a looting spree.
There are senior leaders within the ANC who do not fully embrace the provisions encapsulated in the country’s constitutional democracy.
Minister Lindiwe Sisulu castigates judges as “house negroes”. Why she does that, we may never fully understand. But we know she is a big supporter of former president Zuma. We also know how Zuma hates the judiciary.
The US house select committee is investigating the causes of the January 6 Capitol Hill attack on the citadel of democracy sponsored in part by former US president Donald Trump.
Those who engaged in the insurrection included the Proud Boys, an American grouping that embraces “racist, misogynistic, anti-Muslim, anti-LGBTQ and anti-immigrant” sentiments.
The grouping embraces former president Trump’s racist rantings. Its members owe no allegiance to the constitution, but to Trump.
It unquestioningly believed him when he wrongfully pronounced that the elections “were stolen”, a falsehood he continues to propagate.
Similarly, there are many ANC faithful who continue to be beholden to Zuma and not the constitution. The radical economic transformation
faction is a disgruntled wing within the ANC.
One of its adherents, a spokesperson for the Jacob Zuma Foundation, Mzwanele Manyi, still regards Zuma as the president of the republic. He addresses him as “president” Zuma.
The July 2021 insurrection in which more than 300 people lost their lives, with billions of rand lost to the economy became an anti-government expression. It was a violent sentiment that expressed its allegiance to Zuma and was perpetrated in his name.
The ANC forebears embraced constitutionalism, encapsulated in the Freedom Charter and other documents, and now in the country’s constitution.
Those who spurn these provisions might be the careerists Mbeki rebukes.
- Mdhlela is a freelance journalist, Anglican priest, ex-trade unionist and former publications editor of the South African Human Rights Commission journals
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