Here’s why the ANC may be beyond redemption
The most responsible, upright members of today’s ruling ANC lack influence, while the most influential members lack responsibility
Valorising ANC members and supporters often refer to the once-preeminent political liberation organisation as a “broad church”, “glorious movement”, and “leader of society”. It is easy to understand why. At its infancy, ANC political idealism ensured that it drew into its leadership cohorts from amongst the upright, selfless, responsible, and influential members of society.
The ANC also forged strategic alliances that transcended political dogma, race, class, and religion. The Freedom Charter, a document that became the party’s Magna Carta and true north for decades, was a result of such alliances. This document placed ordinary people, not leaders or politicians, central to the ANC’s liberation struggle and had a huge influence in the crafting of our constitutional order.
Thanks to the “once-glorious” ANC and the inept government, the current state of our political discourse and future economic prospects seems to be joylessness writ large. If you’re not outraged yet, then you are not paying attention. Let me explain.
As a writer, I’m a person of words. But right now, it’s hard to find the ones to reflect how I feel about the ANC government’s ineptitude, and the air of despair that abounds.
While South Africans are going through a spasm of uncertainty as outcomes of ANC leadership contests threaten to imperil our democratic experiment further, some conscientious ANC members are calling for changes to the current way the party elected leaders to its structures.
They propose, inter alia, that the current leadership voting method, where conference delegates elect leaders, be discarded in favour of direct voting by each eligible member. Should their proposal prevail, they submit that this would resolve the perennial “credentialling” and “vote-buying” problems that almost always throw ANC elective conferences in disarray.
For the uninitiated, save for the Kabwe and Morogoro conferences held on foreign soils by the exiled ANC, the 110-year-old organisation has, arguably, only convened six participatory, elective conferences in its history. Before its unbanning, then ANC president Oliver Tambo, the SACP, and SACTU leadership appointed ANC NEC members and heads of relevant structures.
Lest we forget, like all banned liberation struggle organisations, and for obvious reasons, the ANC was forced to curtail, if not suspend certain, key democratic practices enshrined in its constitution – most notably internal deliberative and electoral processes – until after its unbanning. Until then, late ANC president Oliver Tambo held the fort by fiat while most of his comrades were incarcerated in Robben Island prison.
In essence, despite what its birth certificate may otherwise suggest and unlike what the now-defunct UDF (which held the fort for the exiled ANC) practiced, participatory democracy and robust electoral processes are still a novelty to the ANC, and anathema to most influential reprobates within its membership base.
Compared to the Nelson Mandela and subsequent eras, a Tambo-curated ANC was insulated from the ineluctable perversion access to political power and state resources portended for the foundational values of the party including the governance of the affairs of the state.
The misalignment of values and expectations became even more pronounced once the party was swept into power after SA’s first democratic elections. The die was cast when personal shame became a victim and unbridled greed by politicians was elevated to deity status. Who could forget former ANC head of communications Smuts Ngonyama’s disturbing, Freudian “I didn’t join the struggle to be poor” retort which aptly captured the essence, misaligned values, and greed espoused by many ANC leaders and sacrilegious tenderpreneurs?
If any doubts about what attracted many of its influential members to the ANC, Ngonyama’s frank utterances helped debunk the long-held myth of the ANC being a values-driven, selfless monolith committed to uplifting society when, in fact, it set out a conjunction of the struggle for liberation with the pursuit of personal wealth by BEE askaris.
And thus, a now-familiar pattern, whereby the ANC overlooked serious character red flags in its cadres, set in. In fact, from 2007 onwards, the ANC all but abandoned any pretences of abiding by its foundational values of altruism and caring for the society they purported to serve.
And to suggest that ANC perversion only started after its unbanning would be disingenuous. It is common cause that while in exile the ANC had corrupt relationships and forged links with organised crime.
As reported by the Motsuenyane Commission, the political alchemy, perversion, debauchery, and corruption of the ANC started gradually in exile, and then happened suddenly under its disgraced former president Jacob Zuma.
That a drug dealer and stolen cars syndicate kingpin like its then head of its military wing Joe Modise would later be appointed minister of defence, and a depraved man like Zuma could even be elected ANC president is dispositive of the extent of moral and political alchemy of the ANC. It was hardly surprising then that some of these leaders were deeply ensnared in massive corruption when they came into power.
Despite apparent its liberation struggle romanticism, life in exile didn’t prepare the ANC for what lay ahead for it after its unbanning.
The ANC’s history and evolution is more complex and more difficult than most political pundits would be prepared to acknowledge. That said, to a degree surpassing even the Nasrec leadership contests, this year’s ANC elective conference could prove to be the watershed moment in its chequered history.
In his final report, State Capture Commission chairperson Raymond Zondo hailed the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC president and concluded that this “saved South Africa”. That Ramaphosa stopped SA’s certain descent into the abyss is beyond doubt. Question is, can Ramaphosa stop the rapacious greed and looting such as that which occurred ahead of ANC’s 54th conference? Or will he tiptoe around the continued stench of corruption that was the hallmark of his predecessor?
While some of Ramaphosa’s key allies have been fingered for state capture corruption, some of his inconvenient cabinet allies’ litany of graft and arrogance that set in during the Zuma years seem to continue unrestrained. Which begs the question, is the ANC capable changing its spots?
This is undoubtedly Ramaphosa’s Rubicon moment.
For Ramaphosa to succeed, the ANC needs to institute painful reforms from how branches account for their recruitment, finances, and branch elections integrity. This, of course, assumes a heightened level of conscientiousness and political education and empowerment, and oversight of ANC branches. Lest we forget, state capture begins in branches.
Further, the ANC must make reforms on the composition of its NEC and how members are elected to its highest decision-making body after conference.
However, if you are still wondering, here’s why the ANC may be beyond redemption.
The most responsible, upright members of today’s ruling ANC lack influence, while the most influential members lack responsibility. And the ones trying to hold on to their influence without being entirely irresponsible are tiptoeing around the problems.