In 2007, there was a tsunami that swept former president Thabo Mbeki off his steady feet into political obscurity inso far as his detractors were concerned. Those who championed it, including former Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, are today in some form of their own political wilderness themselves.
Who remembers Vavi? As Cosatu general secretary, what role did he play in fuelling what he and his comrades would describe as a tsunami – the ousting of Mbeki?
Today, in its support of the ANC, Cosatu is unsteady; it flip-flops. It talks out of both sides of the mouth. One moment it supports the governing party, the next it sings a different tune.
There is also the South African Communist Party. From its play book of antiquity, it dusts off the age-old idea of seeking to go it alone, pulling out of the broad-church alliance – yet another whirlwind threatening the political life of the jaded and moribund ANC.
It was not surprising that one no less in stature than former president Kgalema Motlanthe warned some five years ago: “It would be good for the ANC … if it was voted out, because those elements who are in it for the largesse will quit and only then the possibility would arise to salvage whatever is left of it.”
Then comes to mind the Greek mythical bird, the phoenix, which legend tells us was as surprised as everyone else when it rose from the pyre of its own ashes. Perhaps, that is what Motlanthe is hoping for – a renewed ANC. But the defining moment of resurrection needs to begin now, in the national elective conference that kicked off on Friday. The election of the “top six” – a quasi-cabinet – will in all probability begin today, to be charged with the running of the organisation’s affairs for the next five years.
Governance is not about being loved; it not dependent on popularity. Its cornerstone is precision and the ability to develop and implement life-giving policies without which organisations die.
But let us focus on those who fuelled the destructive fires. In Polokwane they arrogantly intoned: “We are installing a president loved by the people. Zuma is the people’s choice, down to earth, better understood by ordinary folk than that Sussex University economist.”
But chief justice Raymond Zondo, in his report, has a different story to tell. The state capture became the defining object of Zuma’s tenure. He was loved because he did not understand economics. He thought there was a factory that minted money. And so kept a blind eye as his cronies raided the fiscus. Now the state’s purse is empty. Eskom is in bad shape with sabotage taking place, and the darkness we experience.
Today the house is on fire, and many more others who have aligned themselves with the radical economic transformation wing of the ANC hanker for a return of the years of “plenty” – for pliable leaders who will lavishly dish out a largesse from which the “comrades” will feed.
The ANC is not producing much fruit for society. There is much stagnation.
The ANC’s mission was that of servanthood, committed to the people’s cause – to bring about justice to the people of this country. But today, as the ANC’s 55th national elective conference reaches its tail-end, the organisation is broken up in pieces, losing its appeal to millions of South Africans.
The words of the great ancient prophet have been spoken. Unless the ANC dies in its quest for greed and sloth, its demise will be quickened, with no fruit to bear. Millions of South Africans will turn their back on it.
Whoever wins the high presidential stakes, it will not matter. If it is Cyril Ramaphosa, the nation will remember the Phala Phala scandal. If it is Zweli Mkhize, the shameful Digital Vibes scandal will come to mind.
And the words of ancient prophet come to the fore: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it will remain alone; if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
- Mdhlela is a freelance journalist, Anglican priest, ex-trade unionist and former publications editor of the SA Human Rights Commission journals
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