Same old attacks after launch flop

WHEN it comes to event launches these days, Port Elizabeth is proving to be an unhappy stomping ground for President Jacob Zuma.

Many will remember last year’s tepid response to the ANC local government elections manifesto launch, held at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Thousands of empty seats and a lukewarm reception to Zuma’s speech were early indications that not all was well within the ruling party.

Defeat at the polls on August 3 in Nelson Mandela Bay simply confirmed the malaise and since then little has changed.

The ANC’s factional divide is well entrenched, even violently so, and in less than a month, when more than 5 000 delegates vote for new leaders in Johannesburg, expect to see firsthand more evidence of this chasm.

Yesterday provided a meaningful glimpse of what is to come when provincial ANC bosses took issue with Social Development MEC Nancy Sihlwayi, who was blamed for a dismal turnout at this year’s national launch of 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children, in Missionvale.

The attack was breathtaking in tone, full of fire and brimstone and personal enmity.

Sihlwayi was accused of changing the venue for the event, against advice, and doing so on the grounds of advancing her own factional interests.

Zuma, who never pitched, was originally pencilled in for the keynote address.

Abuse of state resources was the secondary charge levelled against Sihlwayi, arguably a more serious one from a public perspective.

In the end the launch flopped, hobbled by bad organisation and party rivalries.

It’s all too familiar and makes a mockery of those who preach about change and unity. The reality couldn’t be more different.

And there is very little to suggest the same won’t continue after the elective conference, whoever takes the spoils.

After losing key metros last year, there was talk in the ANC about introspection and self-correction.

All just political hooey, as we now know. The mad dash to the bottom of the barrel continues apace.