A political barometer

The ANC defines itself as a strategic centre of power within South African politics and by virtue of being at the helm of government, it occupies centre stage.

The political centre provides leadership to the country in all its facets, its proximity to levers of power giving the political centre a competitive edge over opposition parties.

To sustain this competitive edge, the political centre must be led by people of high calibre – something liberation movements in the post-colonial era tend to ignore.

In South Africa, during the tenure of president Zuma, this group is labelled as “clever blacks” and is perceived as irritants with the ability to stymie a self serving agenda.

To avert the influence of the “clever blacks”, a new cadre type, obsessed with power and greed, was elevated to positions of leadership.

This version of cadreship ensures that the space for intellectual activities within the organisation is dissipated and replaced with a distorted version of the character and the nature of the South African cause. Allergic to reading and the creation of new knowledge, this version of cadre takes it upon itself to displace the enlightened mind, ensuring perceived “clever blacks” have limited space within constitutional structures. Hence, triviality within structures has replaced content and substance, weakening structures in all spheres of the organisation.

The organisation’s obsession with quantity at the expense of quality has made it difficult for structures to participate meaningfully in policy discussions.

Lack of strategic intellectual capabilities means policy inputs lack the necessary critique. As a result, policy discourse is dominated by few individuals serving in the apex structure. The lack of intellec- tual capacity at lower levels, sub-regions, regions and to some extent provinces, results in poorly informed policy choices.

The bar has been lowered even in the apex structure (National Executive Committee) because factional criteria are used to select leadership, further weakening the strategic centre of power. A fish rots from the head.

Political schisms have collapsed the centre of power into irreconcilable factional blocs. Low internecine political, socio-economic instability and the exacerbation of deeply entrenched socio-economic imbalances are the result. Lack of leadership at the strategic centre has created a vacuum impacting negatively on the democratic project. The report on state capture overtly states that we are on the doorstep of a mafia-like dispensation.

The ANC is a highly contested political body, with divergent ideological orientations, each seeking hegemony over the soul of the party. The assumption exists that by winning the soul of the ANC, the dominant grouping will be in a better position to influence the policy direction of the organisation and the country in general.

Nowadays, the soul of the ANC is contested on the basis of proximity to state resources through amoral, unethical and unlawful means, instead of good will.

There is retribution for those who question the morality and lawfulness of such acts.

Yet acts of this nature are short-lived and eventually hit back at the orchestrators. Amoral acts of this nature have the potential to tilt the balance of forces, inside and outside the organisation.

In the absence of quality leadership, competing interests may lead to organisational strife, as is the case right now, followed by organisa- tional rupture and subsequent demise. It’s my considered opinion that the ANC due to perpetual strife underpinned by acrimony is on the threshhold of organisational rupture.

To rescue the ANC from dissolving, a separate national consultative conference as suggested by the ANC veterans is required as a matter of urgency, to get to the bottom of the problem.

The consultative conference should find a workable solution based on sufficient consensus on how to rebuild the ANC.

Taking into account the current state of affairs in the ANC, the policy conference could be just another academic exercise for factional posturing. Under these prevailing circumstances, the elective conference to be held in December will exacerbate the situation and could lead to a major split.

Such outcomes may deliver the country to the coalition government under the leadership of the opposition parties. Alternatively, the ANC will be forced to enter into coalition talks with other opposition parties.

Dissolve ANC structures and set up interim structures to rebuild the organisation in all spheres. The Constitution allows for this intervention.

The ANC is in a crisis, with high levels of infiltration by different forces – some involved in preserving apartheid hegemony; some deployed to pursue specific interests.

Should the national elective conference take its course, it will serve as a political barometer for the 2019 national elections.

Are South Africans ready for a new president, probably from a different party?

Democratic outcomes must be accepted and protected. The supreme law of the country shall prevail.

• Christian Mxoliswa Mbekela is a strategic work consultant specialising in HR, EE and risk management. A former SAYCO NEC member, he was part of the team that re-established the ANC Youth League. He is currently doing a PhD in the Sociology Department at Rhodes University. www.cmmmindpower.co.za