DD’s ‘line in sand’ for ANC
● ANC members who object to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s “clarion call” on corruption should leave the party, Deputy President David Mabuza says today.
Writing in the Sunday Times in his capacity as ANC deputy president, Mabuza says Ramaphosa drew a line in the sand with his recent letter to party members.
Those on the wrong side of the line, “who opt to define themselves in contrast to the values and ethos of the ANC”, should make way for a “new cadre”, he says.
“Our programme to renew the ANC and to rid it of tendencies that undermine the values of the movement is a defining programme whose successful implementation depends on our ability to deploy cadres of a special type, cadres who are particularly honest and selfless. We dare not fail.”
Mabuza also calls for an end to the “divisive demon of factionalism” in the ANC, saying it not only undermines the party’s legitimacy but distracts its focus from “implementing the national democratic programme”. And he says the ANC integrity commission must be beefed up and given a clearer role.
The recent letter addressed to the membership of the ANC on August 23 by President Cyril Ramaphosa, reaffirming the correct anticorruption positions that we adopted during both our 53rd and 54th national conferences, is most appropriate. It is a clarion call that correctly calls for the progressive forces of our movement to make the choice of being on the right side of the line that has now been drawn in the sand, and for those who opt to define themselves in contrast to the values and ethos of the ANC, to leave.
The 54th conference has clearly launched a new stage in our national democratic revolution, a stage that requires a new cadre. The new stage brings with it new challenges that must be faced by all our members, right from the president to the cadres in the branches. Our programme to renew the ANC and rid it of tendencies that undermine the values of the movement is a defining programme, the successful implementation of which depends on our ability to deploy cadres of a special type, cadres who are particularly honest and selfless. We dare not fail.
The entire leadership elected at the 54th conference and the entire membership of the ANC should hold the rod together with our president and draw the line in the sand against corruption and similar malfeasance.
We must stand bold and declare to our communities that we are drawing a line against the divisive demon of factionalism, which has become a source of the vicious and irrational battles for leadership succession in the party — battles that only serve to undermine our overall legitimacy and distract our focus from the important task of implementing the national democratic programme.
We draw a line in the sand against the practice of recalling leaders without having conducted any assessment of their contribution towards the implementation of the popular mandate, but merely for the advancement of factional motives.
As we draw this line, we call on all South Africans and our members to step forward and to isolate the agitators of corruption. For ours is a mass-based movement and a leader of society, with a cadreship whose behaviour and commitment to the betterment of society has to earn the respect and admiration of the people.
We draw a line in the sand against corruption because we are acutely aware and humbled that despite the fact that the ANC’s membership is just a paltry one million, the vast majority of South Africans vote for and love the ANC because they trust us to do the right thing, to annihilate corruption in all its manifestations.
We call on the true cadres of our movement to practise the ultimate vanguardism and render the ANC a movement that is genuinely for the people, by the people, uniting together with our people in the fight against corruption and other destructive tendencies. Our cadres must therefore embed themselves with the people and live the values of the ANC as they lead the charge to build a national democratic society.
It is for this purpose that we can no longer preach unity outside of the renewal programme. For unity in pursuit of factional harmony is in itself factional and counter-revolutionary. We must unite to build a disciplined cadreship that is equal to the current task, a cadreship whose common moral temperament is consistent with the values and ethos of our society and the ANC.
The perception that we are corrupt is as real and severe as the prevailing onslaught on the image of the ANC. It is therefore imperative for us not to arrogantly bury our heads in the sand, but to remain humble and genuinely listen to what the people are saying, and respond accordingly.
In this regard, we must take the opportunity to unreservedly and unequivocally denounce corruption, factionalism, dishonesty and other negative practices that threaten the core values and support of the ANC at every turn. But most importantly, we must walk the talk. We must thus commit to support, strengthen and capacitate the integrity commission so that it can play an effective role in the rebuilding of our organisational values.
We have already taken the imperfect but unprecedented step of calling for a list of those of our members who are accused of and charged with corruption.
It is for this reason that it is also incumbent on us to support the institutionalisation and work of the integrity commission and urgently but clearly define not only the role the commission should play in the renewal agenda, but also the process it must follow in the fulfilment of this purpose.
We must be prepared to engage in all the processes that are meant to assist us in mending our ways, because we are a listening organisation that takes the sentiments of the people seriously.
We are determined to intensify the rollout of our renewal programme in order to regenerate the core moral values in the ANC and thereby avert alienating it from the society. As we embark on this aggressive rollout of the renewal programme, we must urge all our members to desist from destructive fictional smear campaigns aimed at dislodging innocent comrades and to guard against detractors who will pounce at any opportunity to abuse the space created by our commitment to renew our organisation and weaponise our own processes against honest, selfless and hard-working comrades.
Our people must remain assured of our commitment to steam ahead with the renewal programme. Our generation has the responsibility to restore the ANC to its original glory and to bequeath to the next generation the ANC of OR Tambo.