ANC on course to devour itself from the inside

HE ANC national executive committee held a meeting on March 15 to introduce officials elected at its national conference to the party’s organisational, political, ideological and constitutional tenets, values and principles.

In the middle of this induction, possibly imbued with new knowledge and exuberance after its “watershed ” 53rd national conference, the ANC’s national executive committee unprecedentedly decided to disband the youth league’s executive committee, which had been democratically elected at its 24th national congress in 2011.

The reason for the dissolution of the youth league? It continued to show signs of indiscipline.

Just a few weeks ago, ANC officials had committed themselves to working with the league as part of building the youth cadre.

No sane political being in the ANC can attribute the dissolution of the league to indiscipline, because the party has a code of conduct and a

Tconstitution that prescribes how the organisation deals with indiscipline.

So the following questions should be answered: Who was ill-disciplined? What constituted the indiscipline? Where and when did indiscipline occur? Which clauses of the ANC constitution were violated?

The ANC constitution forbids its leaders to use disciplinary process to settle political scores, but, clearly, no regard was paid to the stricture in this instance.

As recently as January, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe reminded the youth league ’ s leaders that they could not take a political decision to remove its elected treasurer-general for indiscipline — financial mismanagement and factionalism — because due process had to be followed.

This included, Mantashe argued, a disciplinary process and expelling or suspending the official if he was found to have violated the league’s constitution and code of conduct. As a result of Mantashe’s intervention, the treasurer-general was reinstated.

What, then, are the reasons for the dissolution of the league? To understand them we have to consider Anton Lembede, the founding president of the league.

In 1947 he said: “It is depressing, however, to observe that the dragon of hostility against the youth league is rearing its ugly head.

“Political careerists and reactionary die-hards within and outside congress view the youth league with suspicion.

“The league is unjustifiably accused of being a parallel organisation to congress, of planning a coup d’état or to seize power in congress or to usurp the position of high congress officials.

“That is incorrect. It is nothing but a figment of the brain of those pseudo-leaders who are only solicitous about their personal positions, pride and interest, and not about the national struggle of the masses.”

Clearly, decades after Lembede made these remarks, the ANC is confronted with the same challenge of pseudoleaders who want to surround themselves with yes men and women and an uncritical youth league that must defend even the most awful of political, ideological, moral and ethical blunders that define these leaders.

These sentiments perfectly define the present conjecture owing to the reality that, for the first time in its history, the ANC is under an ideologically directionless leadership that has questionable moral, ethical, ideological and political standards.

Contrary to public commitments by the ANC and its national working committee, it is apparent that some of the party’s top six officials mobilised members of the national executive committee to reject the party’s view that it must work with the youth league. Instead, they cravenly dissolved the ANCYL ’ s national executive committee because they were unsure of the outcome of the league ’ s 25th national congress.

The dissolution of the league, like the 2012 suspensions and expulsion of its leaders, represents the lowest levels of ideological and political cowardice. Faced with a formidable ideological challenge to the misdirection of the ruling party — represented most recently by its adoption of the National Development Plan — the only option left for ANC leaders was to banish and criminalise different perspectives.

These methods of suppression and repression are not new to those applying them and this is not the last time these processes will be used.

Those who think they are in the party’s good books should not be misled: they too will be victims of the exuberance and triumphalism of the ANC’s 52nd and 53rd national conferences.

Now that the ANCYL’s executive committee has been dissolved, a group of puppets will be installed to sing the praises of the ANC leadership.

This will mean that the radical and militant character of the ANC will wane and no new forms of struggle, ideological analysis and innovative political solutions will be infused into the party.

But like all previous attempts to suppress the struggles of the youth, this too will never succeed. The reactionary forces at the helm of the ANC will one day be defeated and annihilated through an internal process because, after devouring political opponents, they will devour themselves.

Shivambu is an MA student in political studies at the University of the Witwatersrand and a former member of the ANCYL’s national executive committee