Mthembu calls on NEC to resign
An embattled party with self-inflicted wounds is drawing itself deeper into the mud. The result of this is total disregard for the people on the ground
ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu has stuck to his guns by calling on the ANC national executive committee to desist from lurching from one crisis to the next.
The ANC made a poor showing in the polls in August and its Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, is facing charges of fraud. Mthembu said yesterday the charges against Gordhan were politically motivated.
But the ANC Youth League and the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association shot back at Mthembu, calling on him to resign and to stop asking the entire NEC to go.
The youth league and the veterans’ association are known to be supporters of President Jacob Zuma.
The league also called on Mthembu to stop labelling Gordhan’s charges as politically motivated.
Mthembu said he had raised his concerns at the last NEC meeting, saying that the committee had to take a collective responsibility for the party’s poor showing at the August 3 polls.
He said it seemed the ANC had not learnt from this, as Gordhan had now been charged.
“We are not showing change. We are factionalist.
“Maybe it is the right thing to do for the NEC to resign and to get other people,” he said.
“It’s my view that the NEC a is paralysed. We need other people to take us out of this morass.”
He said he had also told the party’s national working committee last week that charges against Gordhan were politically motivated.
He repeated his earlier remarks that he would support Gordhan when the minister appeared in court on November 2.
ANC national spokesman Zizi Kodwa said the committee could not resign en masse, even if it wanted to.
“The NEC is a national leadership of the ANC, elected at national conference, and is made up of 53 regions and branches,” he said.
“Even in the view of the NEC that it has not performed its responsibility, it is not accountable to itself – it is accountable to the branches.”
It would not be an “overnight thing” for NEC members to “simply resign”.
The ANC is preparing for its policy conference to be held in June next year in the buildup to the elective conference in December.
Kodwa said there were systems in the ANC, and things did not “simply happen overnight”.
• President Jacob Zuma is likely to come under fire in the National Council of Provinces tomorrow when he is called upon to answer speculation that he is going to sack Gordhan.
Zuma will be in the NCOP to answer oral questions on Gordhan and other issues facing the country.
One of the questions is on speculation that Zuma wants to fire Gordhan after he has delivered the medium-term budget policy statement on Wednesday.
In the past Zuma has denied claims about a cabinet reshuffle aimed at getting rid of the finance minister.
Speculation on the sacking of Gordhan intensified recently, especially after Zuma was charged by the National Prosecuting Authority.
Heavyweights in the ANC and the government, including Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and stalwart Ahmed Kathrada, have come out in support of Gordhan.
Gordhan has denied any wrongdoing in the charges levelled against him, saying this was an administrative issue.
SOME individuals in the political and business world allow the responsibilities of leadership and the perks of power, or their proximity thereto, to override their moral sense of “right”. Over time, these individuals tend to become too insular and impervious to national interests and the plight of those less fortunate.
A rise in the number of reports of daring malfeasance by state actors in concert with their private-sector cohorts should not be a surprise, given the ease of, and the increase in, access to unrestricted power, resources of startling proportions, and the erosion of ethical standards and values.
Some who have faltered may have experienced a weakened moral sense of “right” in the face of excessive temptation and easy access to power. Others may feel justified in reaping the rewards in proportion to the political power they wield or organisation they lead, arguing that their extravagances seem excessive only to those not feeding alongside them at the trough.
Emboldened by his acolytes ensconced safely in the NEC and cabinet, President Jacob Zuma and his cohorts belong in the latter category. They seem to have embraced and mastered the self-serving mantras that “greed is good” and that pillaging of state resources is justifiable and even desirable.
The audacity and brazenness in recent attempts to dislodge the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, from the National Treasury, suspiciously at the same time as the cabinet hurriedly announced new nuclear power procurement protocols that will ensure Eskom bypasses the National Treasury’s oversight, are all trademarks of a desperate administration bereft of any moral sense of “right” and shame.
Even if Eskom’s procurement processes were to be transparent and devoid of undue influence, only the politically naive would believe that such a decision was taken solely in the national interest and not designed to benefit Zuma and his acolytes.
In fact, this proposed nuclear build programme is widely seen as Zuma’s one last big “Italian Job” before he leaves.
Together with the NEC, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe stands complicit as enabler-in-chief for this latest brazen act of vice and the apparent dysfunctional state the ANC currently finds itself.
Under Mantashe’s watch, scores of once vibrant ANC branches have become dysfunctional; where branches do congregate, very little, if any, political education or debates on vexing societal issues takes place; the politics of slates has been woven into the political fabric of the ANC; and ANC conference resolutions get selectively implemented.
ANC branches, as the basic unit of the organisation, are vital in the general well-being of the organisation. Any weaknesses in the constitution, resourcing and functioning of the branches has a direct impact on the vitality of the ANC.
It is imperative, therefore, for the ANC to ensure that branches are adequately funded and supported so as to ensure that they are not exposed to the “benevolence” of individuals whose character and motives may be questionable.
ANC branches are generally vulnerable and susceptible to undue influence and capture, particularly by wealthy but errant members. This, in turn, creates fertile conditions for “politics of slates” to flourish.
Furthermore, the ANC has lagged behind the competition in adopting technology and modernising itself.
The organisation largely still operates in secrecy just as it did while banned. Gerontocracy and fear still reign supreme.
Its internal membership and electoral systems are archaic, weak and prone to abuse. ANC leaders dispense patronage as a means to enrich and insulate themselves from accountability.
Conference resolutions aimed at improving the ANC’s performance and responsiveness to the needs of the people gather dust as leaders continue to second-guess each other.
Of course rogue elements thrive where chaos ensues, and Mantashe is well aware of this.
Most dishearteningly, the organisation has seen the emergence of the cult of untouchables.
These are ANC members and leaders who, owing to their positions of influence and proximity to the president, can, for instance, land private and other foreign-owned aircraft at SA military bases; hijack mineral rights awarded to others with the active blessings and direction of a minister; agitate for the filibustering or subversion of laws aimed at combating financial malfeasance by politically exposed persons.
They can issue “cabinet” statements at variance with official pronouncements on critical cabinet matters; breach their public oath of office; challenge the role and authority of the National Treasury; brazenly plunder state-owned enterprises – all this with absolute impunity. To restate the obvious, the ANC is in a crisis, and as eminent scholars would say: never waste a good crisis.
Of course Mantashe cannot shoulder all the blame for the ills afflicting the ANC. The ANC leadership operates as a collective.
But he has singularly displayed a penchant for own goals when called upon to provide leadership. Just recently, one could not distinguish between juveniles leading student protests and the chief executive of a ruling party as both sides duelled for the worst bluster.
Mantashe and the ANC government regrettably failed to provide leadership in response to legitimate students’ demands. And using police as a buffer between protesting students and government is not leadership.
Instead, Mantashe, in an attempt to deflect the interplay of class, leadership and politics, cast aspersions on former Wits BSS leaders’ motives. These former student leaders’ only sin was to try and ameliorate what has now morphed into a national conundrum with no end in sight.
One is reminded of a recent incident at the election results centre whereby a senior IEC officer was reportedly assailed by Mantashe and fellow ANC NEC colleagues, ostensibly for overseeing an efficient and successful election operation to the obvious chagrin of the ruling party.
Some upright members of the ANC have also not been spared his vitriol. His cynicism towards members who allege serious misconduct by ANC leaders dissuades allegations of misconduct from reaching his desk.
Mantashe is on record as having dismissed, or at least frustrated, calls for the ANC to investigate allegations of state capture involving Zuma and the Gupta family.
Thanks to the doggedness of the office of the former public protector, it appears that these allegations may soon be confirmed although Zuma and his acolytes are fighting for the report’s suppression through the courts.
Whereas the ANC of Nelson Mandela may be accused of “selling out” to the National Party in its quest for an expedient political settlement; and that of Thabo Mbeki of being “aloof ” and “too intellectual” as it pursued its Pan Africanist agenda, history will surely judge both presidencies favourably.
In fact, Mandela and Mbeki, despite their own human foibles, were arguably motivated by the pursuit of noble, higher ideals in the national interest. This is not the case with the Zuma administration, which can best be described as inherently inept and in the clutches of an individual who epitomises brazen avarice.
Although Zuma has been accused of a litany of serious transgressions ranging from rape, graft to violating his oath of office, one thing he can never be accused of is selflessness.
As a result, the ruling party spends considerable time and energy fighting his fires and not providing leadership to society.
A liberation movement now enamoured by protecting its embattled leader and not serving society has, sadly, seen its condition deteriorate from serious to critical. And unless drastic interventions take place, the ANC’s condition will soon become terminal – if it hasn’t already!
In the end, surely even the most honest, loyal and law-abiding ANC member, supporter or sympathiser would be forgiven if they conclude that, even on its deathbed, the ANC was not deserving of their compassion as it had long ceased to care while wasting itself beyond redemption.
Khaas is the branch secretary of the ANC in greater Johannesburg Ward 117. He writes in his personal capacity. Follow him on Twitter @tebogokhaas.