How the ANC has vulgarised January 8
A YEAR ago we drove down together from Johannesburg to the January 8 event hosted in Durban. We were interested in the event for its political significance. It was taking place at a time when the ANC was confronted with a serious existential crisis – one that it continues to face.
The party had been haemorrhaging public support, a fact that was confirmed by the national general elections that would take place just four months after the event.
In addition, the ANC was deeply divided with factions from its 54th national conference in Nasrec just over a year before still rearing their ugly heads. For this reason, it was our belief and expectation that the much-anticipated statement to be delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa would inspire hope in the minds of the people and ignite renewed interest in the ANC and its aspirations. That is what the January 8 statement has historically been about.
The tradition of the January 8 statement can be traced back to 1972 when the ANC issued its first of many statements to coincide with the founding date of the organisation on January 8, 1912. The purpose of the statement was to outline its programme for the year and galvanise support against the diabolical and amoral apartheid regime.
Due to the political realities of the time, the January 8 statement was postponed for several years, the second issued only in 1979.
Since 1979, the January 8 statement has had guiding themes.
These have included The Year of the Youth (1981); The Year of Women (1984); The Year of Advance to People’s Power (1987); and many other significant themes directly linked to the struggle for emancipation.
The thematic essence of these statements has informed programmes of the organisation and following 1994’s political transition, these themes have been directly linked to the deepening of democracy, fighting poverty and the provision of service delivery.
Beyond the significance of the statement’s content, another key feature that has characterised the event has been a recognition by ANC members and supporters that January 8 is a political occasion.
Until about a decade ago, the ANC’s January 8 statement has been an anticipated political event in which comrades bus in from across the country to listen to the president present a programme of action informing the organisation’s activities for the year. But that has changed dramatically.
Over the past few years, the January 8 event has assumed a posture that is both debilitating and petrifying.
Whatever his weaknesses and however devoid of credibility he may be, Carl Niehaus’s recent missive, titled
Cry Our Beloved Movement, captured aptly the truth about the commodification and vulgarisation of January 8.
In the letter, Niehaus reflects on how the event is a convergence point for crass materialists who have absolutely no regard for the organisation.
He paints a depressing picture about how veterans of the liberation
Struggle are treated with little regard at the event, while young women who are romantic partners of ANC leaders are accorded VIP status.
These individuals, according to Niehaus, have no appreciation of the organisation’s history and policies, and “no interest in the ANC, except for what they will receive from the ANC men who arrange their VIP access accreditation”. Truer words have never been spoken. Our own experience of the January 8 statement in Durban last year was so appalling that it was impossible to make the journey to Kimberley this year.
January 8 has lost all significance, and the only way for the ANC to bring back its credibility is by investing in the political education of its membership, so that this culture of crass materialism that now defines the organisation can be undone.
Matshwi is spokesperson of the YCL in Gauteng and Wa Azania the author of Memoirs of a Born Free: Reflections on the Rainbow Nation. They write in their personal capacities.