&25 YEARS AGO

ANC members of parliament are expressing growing concern with the organisation’s leadership style, citing management of crises, a consolidation of central authority and a clampdown on internal dissent.

The Mail & Guardian has interviewed a number of ANC MPS to gauge the climate in the organisation following the expulsion of Bantu Holomisa, the clash between Gauteng Premier Tokyo Sexwale and Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, and other controversial recent events.

Many expressed a deep concern, believing the organisation is lurching from blunder to blunder, but the fact that not one would speak on the record is an indication of the state of the party.

MPS describe a “climate of fear” that inhibits criticism. “You don’t think about sticking your neck out for fear of getting your head chopped off,” said one. “Some people are keen to say certain things to enhance their positions — or because they already occupy a position they don’t want to lose. The career aspect has never been a factor in ANC politics before — it’s a totally new situation.” — Mail & Guardian, 4 to 10 October 1996