Last chance to save SA

ON FRIDAY, all eyes will be on the ANC as it starts its fifth national policy conference in Nasrec, south of Joburg.

It will be a watershed moment for Africa’s oldest liberation movement.

The last time the governing party went to a policy conference was in 2012. Then the party of Oliver Reginald Tambo and Nelson Mandela still enjoyed huge support, although there were signs the ground was slowly shifting.

Now there is no question the ANC goes to the policy conference a shadow of its former self, bedevilled by deep-seated problems threatening its stay in power beyond the 2019 elections.

Many in the party, including Struggle veterans, have warned it faces demise if it does not turn the corner.

The recent emergence of the Gupta emails exposed the phenomenon of certain cadres having sold control of the state – entrusted to them by the people – to individuals for self-enrichment.

With the ANC elective conference in December looming, infighting in the ANC and its alliance partners, the SACP and Cosatu, is intensifying.

Corruption and patronage, in and out of the state, populism and brinkmanship continue to erode the party’s image.

With the country’s junk status credit rating, growth has stagnated, retarding job creation and the fight against inequality and poverty, threatening stability.

The 1994 dream of a better life for all is evaporating.

As we head for stormy seas, the responsibility weighs heavily on the comrades gathering in Nasrec. They have an opportunity to turn the situation around and save the ANC and the country.

But if this policy conference is reduced to fights about who should succeed Zuma, factionalism and displays of arrogance, this may well be the last policy conference for the ANC as governing party.

If the 2016 local elections held no lesson for the party, we might as well take to heart the old saying that what we learn from history is that people don’t learn from history.

The public will remember not only the corrupt men and women who sold us to the highest bidder to line their pockets, but also the good men and women in the ANC national executive committee who remained silent while this was taking place.

In a year when the ANC is celebrating Tambo’s legacy, the party has one more, last chance for some serious self-reflection – or it can continue the slow walk to the grave.