‘Zuma is killing the ANC’
The motivations behind the anti-Zuma speeches are merely tactical moves in a game of political warfare
ANDREW Mlangeni has accused President Jacob Zuma of killing the South African economy and the ANC.
The former Robben Islander and current chairman of the party’s integrity committee condemned the party’s leaders for not forcing the president to resign after the damning Nkandla constitutional judgment.
In an exclusive interview with The Mercury’s sister, The Star on Thursday, the nonagenarian said it pained him to see the party persisting on a path of self-destruction by failing to rein in corrupt leaders.
Mlangeni said it was “very hurtful” that the party continued to allow divisive practices such as patronage and factionalism to take hold.
He was initially reluctant to speak about the ANC’s problems openly, maintaining his long-standing stance of only criticising it in the confines of the party’s internal structures.
“You see, for example, large number of groups have approached me on the Nkandla issue. I have rejected them … They say, ‘Mlangeni, your colleague (Ahmed) Kathrada and others have spoken and say the president must fall.’ They say, ‘You are quiet.’”
Quizzed further, Mlangeni, 91, one of three remaining Rivonia triallists along with Kathrada and Denis Goldberg, could not hold back, and criticised the ANC national executive committee for failing to recall Zuma. He was, however, emphatic that he was speaking in his personal capacity.
“I am saying it (the Nkandla issue) could have been handled differently,” he said.
“I think they should have taken a decision and asked him to resign, because by not resigning, he has killed the organisation, and the economy of the country has gone down.”
In April, the Constitutional Court found that the president had failed to “uphold, defend and respect the constitution” by his “substantial disregard” for the remedial action taken against him by former public protector Thuli Madonsela.
Amid the groundswell for Zuma to resign, the national executive committee said it had accepted Zuma’s apology, after he had addressed the nation. In August, the NEC resolved, after its four-day meeting, to accept “collective responsibility” for the party’s disastrous performance in the municipal election, which has largely been blamed on the scandals associated with Zuma.
Mlangeni said the NEC should have realised that persisting with the implementation of e-tolls in Gauteng and the scandals around the Guptas was so damaging that the ANC had “lost 8% in the 2014 (national) election”.
“The e-tolls issue made us to lose some votes. The Nkandla issue and the Guptas thing, we should have seen that these are going to cost us more … We lost very badly.”
Zuma has applied for an urgent court application to interdict Madonsela from releasing the state capture report, which the Guptas – who are the president’s close friends – are at the centre of, because of their alleged undue influence on the appointment of cabinet ministers and the awarding of government contracts.
Mlangeni said he was deeply hurt seeing the ANC losing voter support because of self-inflicted mistakes.
“It’s hurtful because people stayed away from voting. They say, ‘Punish the ANC. The ANC must not take us for granted.’
“If you haven’t learnt from that, you will never learn.”
Mlangeni was cagey when asked if the integrity commission was contributing to the problems by not reading the riot act to wayward ANC members and leaders.
However, it is understood that the integrity committee is not necessarily “a toothless bulldog” but was being frustrated by the failures by the ANC.
A highly placed source familiar with the integrity committee’s work said: “We are not struggling. We get information, including from the media, where people are involved (in wrongdoing).
“If for example, on the issue of corruption, there’s evidence that so and so, a member of the organisation, is involved in this and that, we call that person (and say), ‘Monna (man) or mme (ma’am), there is this thing about you in the media, what’s your story?’
“We don’t just rely on the media. We also do our own investigation. And on the basis of all that, we take a decision and make a recommendation. But the national general council doesn’t implement. They are discouraging us by not implementing our recommendations. That must be corrected,” said the source.
Mlangeni said his wish was to leave the ANC in a good state when he died.
“At the moment it’s not the position … There are many mistakes that we have made and those mistakes must be corrected, or we are going to lose the election again.”
ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said the party would not comment about members criticising the party in public.
“I won’t engage with members who raise issues in public, whether its Uncle Kathy (Kathrada) or Mlangeni. If there’s anything to be communicated internally, their comment must be to strengthen the organisation.”
lebogang.seale@inl.co.za
JACKSON Mthembu isn’t a fool. He obviously knows there are internal structures and processes within the ANC through which members and leaders of the party can raise concerns about the party.
That’s trite. The question is why he is choosing to go public, as a very senior member of the party (he is the ANC chief whip in Parliament), and calling on the entire leadership of the ANC to resign in light of the local government election results, and subsequent examples of abuse of state resources for factional battles – such as the weak and unconvincing fraud charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
There are two sets of reasons that explain Mthembu’s newfound zeal and backbone. First, factional battles are a numbers game. Mthembu’s public confidence is a reflection of a critical mass of leaders wiith in the tripartite alliance, having had enough of President Jacob Zuma and his looting friends.
Mthembu’s timing is well chosen. He knows that almost every SACP leader, and a significant number of ANC national executive committee members (many wearing both hats) accept that the ANC could collapse if Zuma isn’t politically neutralised as a matter of urgency.
If there’s one criticism of the Sunday papers yesterday, which otherwise were brilliant in helping us understand what is going on in a rotting ANC-led state, it is the inadvertent centre stage that Mthembu took on some front pages.
The truth is Mthembu isn’t a lone ranger. It is precisely because the anti-Zuma grouping is becoming bigger by the day that Mthembu knows it’s low risk to speak out. He’s speaking for a critical mass of leaders who are finally getting the point of the electoral backlash the ANC suffered in the local government elections.
The second reason for Mthembu’s urgency and zeal complements the first. It’s hoped that by speaking out strongly against the abuse of state resources for narrow political and predatory purposes on the part of Zuma and his friends, more people can find the courage to join the anti-Zuma grouping.
Dirty laundry
This makes Mthembu’s utterances not the acts of a naughty child airing the family’s dirty laundry – as ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa implies with his plea that these issues be discussed inside the party only – but a tactical move to embolden those who lack the courage to speak out against Zuma.
Mthembu is hoping his role modelling of criticism of the highest leadership of the party will catch on. And by including himself in that criticism as a leader within the party, he avoids being susceptible to the retort: “Why didn’t you speak out while you were still in a senior leadership position?”
Does this mean Zuma is at risk of being recalled from the state by the ANC? Not any time soon. Zuma benefits from the lack of consensus among his critics about what a new slate of top six officials of the party might look like to rebuild the party.
When Thabo Mbeki was recalled there was already, leading up to that moment, consensus about a replacement candidate. Not so now. And that is something from which Zuma is benefiting.
But his days are numbered. Every day brings his enemies closer to one another, and pragmatism will result in political foes within the alliance strategically co-operating to halt the looting and to prevent major electoral losses in 2019.
Zuma would be silly to be complacent. As the anti-Zuma camp gets its ducks in a row, so Zuma and his looting friends will have less and less time and space to continue overeating at the trough.
But for the ANC there is a long road ahead before the organisation is in healthy political shape again. The truth is that Zuma is but a symptom of a failure to instil a political culture that engenders deep and selfless commitment to public service in ANC cadres.
Mthembu isn’t a political saint. There aren’t saints in politics. Politics is about power: amassing it and wielding it. And many in the anti-Zuma camp are corrupt too and simply sad that they’re not closer to the largesse.
And so the motivations behind these seemingly brave acts aren’t moral motivations, but tactical moves in a game of political warfare.
That’s an important qualification when interpreting Mthembu and others. It means that even if Zuma goes tomorrow, a Zuma doppelgänger could enter the state and continue a pattern of patronage, corruption, abuse of state resources for political ends and so on.
The more fundamental challenge for the ANC is to yet imbue the organisation with a new set of political values that accept the selfinterested nature of career politicians as a universal reality, but values that maximise the potential for developing ANC cadres who can be seconded to the state and entrusted to deliver on the policy promises of the party.
How likely is that in the short to medium term? Not very. I’m afraid the rot is so deep that it will take monumental patience and effort to learn new ways of being.
The ANC remains in serious trouble, and the winners of the internal political war might not have much of a party to work with when it is all over. The victory might yet be pyrrhic.