Balance of forces slowly shifting in ANC as party leaders think of survival, unity
Tone of NEC meetings determined by governance crises and scandals
This weekend the ANC is heading to another national executive committee (NEC) meeting.
And lately the tone of these meetings is determined by the events, political scandals and governance crises that precede them.
This being the year of Oliver Tambo, the ANC’s rallying call is “Let us deepen unity”.
Calls that for the ANC to survive, the party must be distanced from the actions of the president and his administration are growing. The unity of the party is beginning to take on greater value.
The last NEC meeting was preceded by President Jacob Zuma’s midnight announcement of a cabinet reshuffle.
What followed was a series of public statements by some members of the top six in a series of very daring moves.
This led to much speculation, again, about the president possibly being recalled. It wasn’t to be. The NEC issued a mild rebuke to the president, but this was a sign that the balance of forces is slowly shifting.
The evidence for this is mounting. Take for instance the battle over the secret ballot. When opposition parties went to the Constitutional Court over a demand for a secret ballot during voting on a motion of no confidence in Zuma, the ANC did not oppose it, but the president and Speaker Baleka Mbete did.
The ANC caucus has publicly differed on this same point, with the likes of MP Makhosi Khoza questioning the organisation’s penchant to defend a president with depleted credibility.
Alliance partners Cosatu and the SACP are also working hard to distance the alliance and the ANC itself from the actions of the government.
At their national imbizo, which included representatives from the ANC, including stalwarts and veterans, Cosatu, Sanco, business under the banner of Business Leadership SA and the newly formed civil society coalition Save SA, among others, the SACP decried the state of leadership in the country.
The imbizo decided on “the urgent appointment of a judicial commission of inquiry into state capture” as prescribed by the public protector in her State of Capture report. Zuma is challenging the report in the high court.
The upcoming NEC meeting has been preceded by yet another scandal – the reappointment of former ANC MP Brian Molefe as Eskom chief executive. Revelations this week, both from Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown and the Eskom board, have demonstrated how prescripts of ethical conduct were disregarded to cobble up a scheme that has further undermined the credibility and integrity of state institutions. Coming after the release of the SA Council of Churches’ Unburdening Panel, the scandal only confirms what the clergy uncovered – that SA is descending into a mafia state.
While Brown initially endorsed Molefe’s reinstatement – evidence that Zuma approves – the ANC condemned the decision as “unfortunate and reckless”.
These are all telltale signs that ANC members are thinking more deeply about the organisation’s survival and the cost of defending the current administration.
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa boldly declared on Sunday that the ANC would not split.
His assertion came a day after Lindiwe Sisulu, another presumable ANC presidential hopeful, reflected on the factional battles leading up to the 2007 conference. Sisulu concluded that these divisions remain. She pleaded that the party not repeat the mistakes it made in Polokwane. It is clear that unity and survival is top of mind for some leaders in the organisation.
Every meeting of the NEC in the lead-up to the policy and elective conferences of the party provides a window into whether unity or disunity will prevail.
Nothing too drastic will come out of this one, but the balance of forces is sure to shift much further.