Spotted: the elusive middle-class ANC fan

IF the ANC has lost the support of the very socioeconomic class it helped to grow over the past two decades of its rule, that was not evident at the Sandton Convention Centre this week.

More than 1 000 black professionals gathered in one of the halls on Wednesday evening for an event organised by the party.

Although speakers included Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Gauteng party leader and newly appointed human settlement MEC Paul Mashatile, the organisers had been expecting only about 400 people.

Conventional wisdom is that black professionals, and the middle class in general, are so disillusioned with the party that they no longer want anything to do with it.

But the turnout in Sandton, the heartbeat of the South African economy, suggests that while this stratum of society is bitterly angry with President Jacob Zuma and his government, it is not yet convinced that a viable alternative exists outside of the ANC.

The audience was an interesting mix of the who’s who of black professionals in Gauteng. And it was not just the usual suspects, either.

Yes, Mzwanele Jimmy Manyi was present, but there were also professional cadres who have recently made their anger at Zuma and Luthuli House known publicly — the likes of lawyer and former ANC Youth League deputy president Ronald Lamola.

That all these people had come did not, however, mean that Ramaphosa and Mashatile’s work had been made any easier.

They had come to convince this strata of society that although the ANC is a “pro-poor” organisation, the middle class has a role to play.

The party is clearly anxious about the middle-class vote and the leaders had targeted these professionals in the hope that they will convince others to look beyond Zuma when they cast their votes later this year. The complaints came early on. One of those invited to speak as part of a professionals’ panel, Stan Itshegetseng, did not mince his words as he spoke of feeling alienated from party structures.

He spoke of black professionals who helped set up party branches in the suburbs only to be voted out by their “domestic workers”, who tend to constitute the majority in such branches. His words were met with loud applause.

Right from the beginning, it was clear the crowd was agitated about last weekend’s ANC national executive committee meeting.

It had clearly expected the NEC to act against Zuma for allowing his Gupta friends to run the government on his behalf.

Mashatile read the mood of the crowd and shared what had transpired at the NEC meeting. He promised the crowd that once the ANC had completed its investigation, action would be taken against those found to be in the wrong.

“Our state will never be captured by anyone. Coming from the NEC, we are sure that something like that will never happen in this country.” Ramaphosa made similar promises. “Members of the ANC must adhere to the core values of the ANC. There must be consequences and there must be accountability. We must see that happen,” he said.

The crowd responded by shouting: “When?”

“That moment is now,” was Ramaphosa’s assurance. The crowd did not seem convinced. Even though they doubted the NEC’s ability to oust Zuma, the crowd appeared to warm to the idea of Ramaphosa taking over from him.

“Uzophatha [You will lead],” shouted a woman in the crowd as Ramaphosa prepared to deliver his speech.

So the black middle class has not abandoned the ANC in droves, as some would like us to believe. Of course there are those who have found a new home in the DA and the EFF, but many seem to still believe that with all its flaws, only the ANC is capable of leading South Africa out of the economic doldrums to make “economic freedom” a reality.

There was hope in that room that the ANC might be able to self-correct between now and next year, when a leadership election is due.

Shoba is acting political editor of the Sunday Times