Trapped in the past, the ANC fails to rise to today’s challenges

NELSON Mandela used to remind critics in his inimitably forthright way that the ANC had emerged from the bush to run probably one of the most sophisticated economies on the continent.

It was a disarmingly honest response to those who tended to find fault with the organisation in its early years in government. But the feeling of unease about the ANC in the business community had been informed by the party’s history.

Weaned on the Freedom Charter, the ANC had been forced by circumstances to make common cause with the communists, both homegrown and foreign, and had been funded mainly by the Soviet Union. The exhumation in Russia this week of the bodies of two ANC and SACP stalwarts — JB Marks and Moses Kotane — is a reminder of the role the Soviet Union once played in the life of the ANC. There had therefore been real fear that the ANC, once in power, would nationalise the economy.

That apprehension was not helped by Mandela, who in his first speech on his release from prison repeated shibboleths in the Freedom Charter about nationalising the commanding heights of the economy.

But once in office he went out of his way to reassure the business community, retaining Derek Keys as finance minister and later replacing him with Chris Liebenberg, a banker.

It took the ANC two years in government before they could entrust the economy to one of their own. To say Trevor Manuel’s appointment failed to win universal acclaim is to put it mildly. It was seen as a hostile act in certain circles. It was as if the ANC was free to govern everything, except the economy.

Manuel’s critics, however, were to eat humble pie. He turned out to be the longest-serving and probably the best finance minister the country has had.

Economic policy didn’t move to the left under Manuel’s stewardship. But the Reconstruction and Development Programme beloved of the left metamorphosed into the Growth, Employment and Redistribution strategy — much to the annoyance of some of his comrades, who regarded this as a Thatcherite concoction.

So the bolt to the left, much feared by the moneyed and business classes, didn’t materialise. Instead, the ANC, for a time, ran the economy better than its predecessors had. Why, it even allowed Anglo American to relocate to London.

That, however, doesn’t mean the organisation didn’t make mistakes. It has made some huge ones, most of which still haunt the country. These were driven not by ideology but by incompetence, political convenience, naivety, and, in some cases, utter stupidity. Recently, decisions have been fuelled by an overwhelming desire for self-enrichment.

The government, for instance, has yet to give a coherent explanation why, in the midst of so much poverty, billions had to be wasted on the arms deal. The conclusion is almost inescapable that the primary motive was to enrich private individuals. The arms deal is now an albatross around the ANC’s neck and has seriously undermined the reputation of its leader.

The country is experiencing interminable blackouts because some years ago the government, for reasons best known to itself, decided to ignore appeals to increase Eskom’s generating capacity. The politicians were happy to take credit for an ambitious electrification project and yet saw no need to increase the power capacity. They probably thought South Africa’s electricity was generated by the lightning in the sky.

Public trust in the government has been eroded by such questionable decisions. The view is taking hold that those in government make decisions only to benefit themselves and their friends, not the public.

Which is why few people will believe Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene when he commits the government to fight corruption; in the public mind, President Jacob Zuma personifies corrupt practices. It’s the fox guarding the chickens.

And if the government really is serious about combating crime, why appoint Riah Phiyega, a complete novice, as commissioner of the police? It’s not just a stupid decision; it’s downright criminal.

The ANC has benefited from its history as a liberation movement. But the past is receding into a distant memory. The apprehension of its enemies may have proved groundless, but its supporters are growing weary of being fed a diet of the past. The many protests around the country attest to this.

Which is why it will be interesting to see how the Gauteng e-tolls debacle affects next year’s local government elections. Losing the province would be a blow from which the ANC would find it difficult to recover. The party is at sixes and sevens over the issue. Nene promised to lower the fees, but he’s missing the point: it is the principle, not the price, that is at issue.

Voters will have the opportunity to pass their own verdict in the elections. People are realising that democracy is about the present and the future, not the past.