No regrets on leaving ANC

THE election of President Jacob Zuma at Polokwane, in 2007, led to the formation of the Congress of the People (COPE). However, the debilitating leadership fighting, backbiting and numerous other misfortunes quickly led to the collapse of the organisation, leaving some members disappointed and disillusioned with their leaders.

But for seasoned political activists, there was nothing untoward in the collapse of the project, despite its bright prospects.

After COPE failed to hold itself together, a number of comrades, both “casual” and serious, were left unsure as to the wisdom of having abandoned the ANC.

Although some saw that the ANC was destined to strip itself of all its noble values, enviable legacy and the title of being the leader and the movement of the people, they still went back to the ANC.

ANC members who felt that Zuma was the best gift to the people, country and ANC cursed us for pointing out how flawed a character Zuma was.

Ten years later it’s time to reflect and take stock of our decision to leave the ANC.

Many of us left the ANC because we anticipated that some of the following would happen under the Polokwane dispensation: Zuma would corrupt and delegitimise all state institutions; State-inspired corruption would be so rampant; The constitution would be undermined; Corruption would be normalised; Reporting any transgression would be a fruitless exercise; State resources would be looted with impunity; Lawlessness would be the order of the day; Fortune and rent-seekers, dangerous foreign oligarchs and various shades of mafia bands would have a field day in the countr y; We also anticipated the collapse of the national state-building project that the liberation struggle was all about; Bankrupting of the state would occur; The new rulers would go cap in hand to the dreaded IMF and World Bank, and adopt their grinding structural adjustment policies.

Of those who left the ANC, some could literally not cope with being out of the party that was wielding economic, social and political power. They trickled back to the ANC, this time around not being recruited for a noble cause, values and principles of a glorious legacy, but because of the gripping strangulation of their livelihoods.

They were paraded in political rallies and subjected to the humiliation of having to demonstrate political remorse by being forced to wear ANC T-shirts emblazoned with Zuma’s face.

The irony was that ANC loyalists preferred this practice penalty, oblivious to the fact that this was a confirmation that Zuma was really and truly the embodiment of a political bogeyman.

I am one of those who stuck to their convictions and principles.

Leaving the ANC was the most agonising pain I have ever endured in politics.

When my younger brother and I took the decision, our mother for the first time discussed the matter with us.

She was talking from experience, saying to us she wanted us to take time and think about our decision carefully.

Her point was that cutting yourself off from something you loved so dearly would be “traumatic”.

My mother never questioned the merits and demerits of our reasons, she just argued that to leave our long-term relationship with an organisation we had sacrificed so much for, was a decision that we might regret in the future.

At the back of my mom’s mind, she was not perturbed by the threats, intimidation and various forms of blackmail.

She was confident that we would live with that – she had seen us doing that before.

Our decision was calculated and we factored in the worse that could be dished out to us, and dish out their dirt they did.

However, it is humanly satisfying to have made that sacrifice and to have suffered in the service of our nation. Today, it is not an exaggeration to say the thousands who cursed us then, envy us now, as they have just become the “collective of theft” whose proceeds they did not enjoy, but were part of the preserve of the ruling clique with its criminal cronies.

The culture of vindictive triumphalism has left the ANC vulnerable to its own self-destruction.

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba’s mid-term budget speech was a horrifying confirmation of the fears that many of us harboured in 2007 as we bade farewell to an organisation that we loved so much.

I have vivid memories of those who said to us, “Thanks for going”, and calling us all sorts of crude social obscenities. I just knew deep down in my heart, with the little strength in my body, together with millions of others, life of political isolation from the current rot was something I could handle for the rest of my life with no regrets.

Malusi Gigaba’s mid-term budget speech was a horrifying confirmation of the fears that many of us harboured in 2007