The centre doesn’t hold
Iam a child of the ANC, but today it feels like I have been brutally violated by my father. Our political theory teaches us that the ANC is the strategic centre of power, and the centre must hold to advance the interests of the national democratic revolution. The central tenet of this revolution is a nonracial, nonsexist, democratic, prosperous, united nation.
The ANC is a democratic organisation and operates on the basis of the principle of democratic centralism. In the context of governance, the ANC thus accrues to its structures (relative to the sphere of government) the responsibility to be the principled director of all strategic and policy decisions, including deployment to strategic positions in the state. This political authority of the ANC is exercised in concert with the relevant executive authority in government as provided for in law.
Recent events suggest the “centre” has collapsed. The president of the republic opted to invoke presidential prerogative and in so doing acted outside the organisational conventions, exercising singularly (or with forces other than the ANC) the power to hire and fire members of the national executive or Cabinet.
In terms of section 91(2) of the Constitution, the president has this power, but two things must be taken into account: first, the president is required, under section 83(3), to “promote the unity of the nation and that which will advance the republic”, and, second, in terms of the president’s oath of office, the president must “promote all that will advance the republic, and oppose all that may harm it”.
These prescripts of the highest law of our land place an obligation on the president to act in the best interest of South Africa and to advance its national interest. But the president’s infamous “midnight reshuffle” has hit the markets hard.
These facts are a matter of public record, attested to by both the deputy president and the secretary general of the ANC. The president acted against the advice of at least three (of the six) national office bearers of the ANC. Put simply, the president has defied the organisation he leads.
The president’s actions go against the spirit and the letter of his constitutional duty and responsibility, and these actions have brought harm that will take many months if not years to undo. South Africa has seemingly descended into being a one-person state, with one all-powerful person at its head who is oblivious to or careless of the nation’s wellbeing and best interests.
If Jacob Zuma has failed the ANC and the people of South Africa, we have to ask: How much more must we endure? This far, I suggest, and no more.
■ Of the wide choice of nonsense uttered by the new ministerial brigade, one stands out as classic stupidity. The water minister tweeted: “If the rand falls we can pick it up.” This is from a minister, reportedly, with millions missing from her ministry that are unaccounted for.
Ministers who have no knowledge of national finances (like the new finance minister) are in denial about the downgrades and the rand dropping by 10%. Some are saying it’s a good thing!
The ANC government has worked on the principle of “party members first, my family next, and the proletariat last”. It’s the skeletons in their cupboards that keep party members, right up to the top, in line.