ANC liquidates itself

The ANC seems to be hastening its demise. It’s at war with itself almost daily. Its name is in print, on TV and on social media - and not for good reasons.

Certain national ministers are involved in name-calling.

On Tuesday the ANC secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe convened a post NWC press conference reprimanding leaders of the ANC and the alliance to desist from public spats.

Unfortunately, irreparable damage has already been done to the waning brand of the ANC. This implies that the movement is no longer providing exemplary leadership.

We should be extremely concerned as South Africans to witness cabinet ministers having it out in the public space. What message does this communicate to us as the electorate? That internal party schisms have now penetrated government levers of power?

What are about the oath of office taken by each individual minister, to always preserve the dignity of state office? How are they going to discharge their constitutional mandate as a collective? They’re literally obsessed with factional fights which have got nothing to do with the constitutional mandate.

It is a fact that during the liberation revolution, multitudes of people, some of them defenceless, were exterminated. Atrocious acts were unleashed on anti-apartheid activists. One of the most gruesome was the cold-blooded murder of bra Chris Hani (may his soul RIP) by a foreign agent. Knowing too much is sometimes a high political risk.

Factional fights in the ANC have put vital state apparatus at the cutting edge under siege.

As this war intensifies, it may lead to full-blown state paralysis.

In the event that this happens, the national purse will be the first casualty.

Those who may have the guts to oppose attempts aimed at taking over the national purse could be shown the door and thrown into a political oblivion.

This is no longer a battle: it is a war.

In this war, there are people out to assert a who’s who order. This may have devastating effects on the health of the nation, particularly the critical mass, and provides fertile ground for massive resistance.

Mass protests could see authorities using maximum force and critical voices could be forced to move under the radar.

South Africans require a national public discourse on the direction the country must take before it’s too late.

It’s alleged that explosive information which might implicate certain individuals within the national treasury, as well as individuals external to the treasury has already been gathered.

Mzwanele Jimmy Manyi, the founder and former national president of the Black Management Forum, and the national president of the Progressive Professionals Forum has already submitted information to the Public Protector’s office for investigation.

This could be the first daunting assignment for the new Public Protector.

She (Busisiwe Mkhwebane) is known as a highly capable advocate with impeccable credentials in her professional field.

She once worked for the State Security Department as an analyst. With intelligence capabilities, she might leave no stone unturned when dissecting information.

Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas made the revelation that the Guptas had offered him a ministerial position, and the Guptas refuted the claim as nonsensical.

I stated in one of my columns that the struggle around treasury will be fought on all fronts.

The Guptas claimed that the Jonas’s claims were an attempt on his part to protect unethical business interests, in particular in the Eastern Cape.

The merits and demerits of the claims may emerge at the end of the day.

The point is that ANC platforms have ceased to be theatres of ideas with the ultimate objective of providing leadership to society.

The collapse of substantive discussions within the ANC has polarised party structures.

Previously, the ANC had the intellectual ability to manage diverse political and ideological strands within its ranks. That’s what made the ANC attractive and appealing to different generations, irrespective of race, gender and class.

The Polokwane intervention weakened the ANC and made it vulnerable.

At the pace at which things are done, one could infer that the movement is irredeemable and unreversible. It has fundamentally drifted from its historical mission and deviated from the principles and values espoused by its founders.

It’s playing right in the hands of its opponents and its fractured political posture has created an enabling environment for them.

A ruling party which does not have the ability to manage its internal contradictions is vulnerable to external manipulation.

The local government election outcomes have dispelled the myth that the ANC is invincible. ANC national support has plunged to 54 percent. Failing to address the causes may lead to the movement becoming irrelevant.

The post local government elections era has shown us a party that’s keen to tear itself apart. Mediocre performance in the elections is an indication of a party with moribund structures.

Let’s hope that the movement is not heading for a precipice.

Defence of the indefensible has painted the movement as a party willing to endorse unethical, immoral acts and unlawfulness. Those who have questioned the endorsement of the malfeasance have been labelled as counter-revolutionaries.

SACP secretary general Blade Nzimande and ANC SG Gwede Mantashe have politically and ideologically embarrassed themselves.

Their humiliation of the voice of reason was made under the pretext of defending the revolution.

One is tempted to ask, where is the revolution they’re defending?

One is also tempted to make the statement that both secretaries have brought their organisations into disrepute. Nzimande once said the Nkandla saga was a white thing to discredit the ANC.

Nzimande at the height of the #feesmustfall protests, had the temerity to say “#students must fall”.

He concealed the findings of the study he commissioned under the chairmanship of Prof Dirk Swart, NMMU VC on the feasibility of free education.

He passed on the report to national treasury, and subsequent to that Gordhan made a decision on the unfeasibility of free education.

Stakeholders were not afforded the opportunity to engage with the findings of the study.

Factional fights have caused the government to take their eye off the ball in addressing the following factors: deeply embedded inequalities in key sectors of society, unemployment, poverty, economy growing at the rate of 0 percent, white collar crime, exclusion of blacks from economic mainstream, rural development and land reform.

The re-invigoration of extra-parliamentary politics is critical to ensure the mobilisation of civil society around substantive and transformative issues. • Christian Mbekela is a strategic work consultant specialising in HR, EE and risk

management, former Sayco NEC member and he was part of the team that re-established the ANC

Youth League. He is currently doing his PhD in the Sociology Department at

Rhodes University.