The ANC must be driven out of the corridors of power if only because of the organisations’s failing policies and corruption.
This view was expressed by one of the foremost South African civil rights leaders, Ish Mkhabela, an exponent of the Black Consciousness Movement, in an interview with Sunday World this week.
Mkhabela said “it would be better if the ANC were to be driven out of the corridors of power by the will of the people in the next national general election of 2024. It would be better if they occupied the oppositionbenches in parliament and in the country’s nine legislatures.
“Once they are out of government, who knows, they might wish to seek a fresh mandate, after mending their wayward ways, but for now the communities must work towards booting them out of power. They don’t deserve it. They have abused it,” said Mkhabela.
“When God said let there be light in the world, the ANC in its arrogance decided to contradict God, and ordered darkness to descend upon the lives of South Africans.
These expressions must not be understood facetiously, for they are not, but in concrete terms they represent what the communities are telling us.
“Who knows, an electoral defeat may just present them with a measure of humility, and the will to mend their ways, something I doubt very much they can do.
“I suspect, even as the opposition, the ANC will continue to be as disruptive as they have always been. However, if they so choose, they can reset and become a good and constructive opposition. Maybe only then will they regain the confidence of communities,” he said.
Denouncing the so-called renewal programme as espoused by President Cyril Ramaphosa and others within the ANC, Mkhabela said it was farcical to talk about renewal when some ANC members are fingered in political killings that are widespread in KwaZulu-Natal and other parts of the country.
“When there is so much killing, it is absurd to talk about renewal. Life is never cheap, and why should people be killed for making political choices. We learn about these atrocities in the media almost on a daily basis? How can you talk about renewal when there is so much blood-letting within the ANC?”
Mkhabela, although serving on the boards of several nongovernmental organisations, prefers to be described as a professional community organiser. “This is to protect myself against accusations that I may be saying these things because I have a political axe to grind,” Mkhabela said.
“If the views I hold are an embodiment of what the ANC has become, then I argue that ANC has no moral standing to govern this country, and it would be better if they were booted out power.
“The ANC has betrayed public trust, and broken everything that South Africans hold dear, including the country’s first-rate infrastructure. How then, having broken everything dear to the people of the land, can the ANC claim they will rebuild what [they have destroyed over the years through incompetence, corruption, and malfeasance?]”
Mkhabela argues that the constitution “which the ANC helped to craft”, has been undermined by acting in ways that contradict its promptings.
“Now the leadership talks flippantly about renewal, which frankly I think amounts to nothing but a self-serving ploy to regain the confidence of the citizens they have abused for the past 29 years.”
“It is time the people of this country boot the ANC out of power,” he said.
Sunday World on Wednesday sent a list of questions to ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe, but he had not responded by the time of going to print, neither had he responded to telephone calls.
A senior ANC member who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media said the party’s problems are deep-seated.
“We all need to knuckle down to instil a new sense of leadership. The communities trust the ANC, but we need to fix the organisation. The contract killings (izinkabi) are not doing the image any good. That we need to sort out, as we also need to ensure that Eskom problems are fixed. Without reliable electricty generation, business will be compromised.”
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