ANC’s tale of redemption dissolves in an era of disbelief

In the hours before Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech at Buffalo Stadium last Saturday, a convoy of 23 luxury vehicles moved through East London, exhorting residents to come and hear the ANC’s new president speak. People thronged onto the streets to wave and cheer. Viewed from afar, it appeared as if the masses were celebrating their fresh leader and the renewal he promises.

But for those who came in closer and listened to what the people on the streets were shouting, as the astute City Press journalists S’Thembile Cele and Leon Sadiki did, a very different picture emerges.

“Niyangxola,” a woman on the side of the road complained as the convoy passed. “You are making a noise.”

“Nisakhela nini izindlu?” another tossed in the air. “When are you building us houses?”

A group of children chased after the convoy of fancy cars. “I want that one,” one of the kids shouted to another. “Which one do you want?”

If there is a fleeting encounter that captures the spirit of the times, it is surely this moment, recorded by Cele and Sadiki with their observant pens. There is great irony in this scene, for among the things it demonstrates is that the story the ANC spent decades crafting remains hegemonic. The crux of the tale is that to be black and to have been born within SA’s borders is to be owed a shot at redemption. For centuries, one’s forebears were oppressed; in 1994, freedom finally came, after years of sacrifice and struggle; the movement that arrived home to govern was expected to give black people lives approximating those once lived by whites.

That is the long arc of the tale: redemption after generations of suffering, centuries of injustice finally put aright. It remains SA’s cardinal story. It was honed over decades by the ANC for the purpose of acquiring power. It is now deep in the bones of millions of people and will probably remain there for a long time to come. Only now, many have lost faith that the story will ever come to its rightful close, as it has lost its redeemer. The ANC is sullied and there is no substitute redeemer in sight.

When the governing party comes past in a convoy of luxury cars, it is cheered for the tale it tells and jeered for failing to deliver the ending.

One should spare a thought for Ramaphosa. Had he become president of SA in 1999, as Nelson Mandela wanted, he would have led a country still enchanted.

Instead, he is to assume power in an age of cynicism. It is often said that educated people are far more sophisticated than the downtrodden and the poor. The educated can think and reason, after all, and are thus seldom gullible: it is hard to get them chasing red herrings. The poor, in contrast, will follow anyone who promises them the world.

I wonder, though, whether the very opposite is happening in SA right now. A flock of well-heeled people bought air tickets to East London to hear the new president speak.

People last involved in politics 20 years ago took time off from their busy corporate schedules to see the renewal first hand. SA’s elite is in a state of excitement and wonder.

I doubt this credulity is shared by the majority. The Zuma era has sullied much more than Zuma. It has sullied politics, forever I suspect, for only magical thinking can reverse time. The ANC may very well win in 2019. What a strange victory it will be; millions voting for a story they no longer believe will unfold.

THE ZUMA ERA HAS SULLIED MUCH MORE THAN ZUMA. IT HAS SULLIED POLITICS, FOREVER I SUSPECT, FOR ONLY MAGICAL THINKING CAN REVERSE TIME