Khumbulani Mngadi
The ANC as a leader of society should lead by good examples. The ugly scenes that characterised their 55th national conference left the nation astounded, to say the least. From the events that led to the eight-hour delay on the first day of the conference to the announcement of the Top 7. These delays demonstrated how disorganised, ill-disciplined, divided and unprepared the organisation is. The level of disharmony among the delegates showed the electorate the ugly side of politics that no one wants to see. It showed the world how the country has regressed since 1994. It demonstrated a glaringly huge conceptual disparity between the current ANC crop of leaders and those of the past. The violation of the hard-fought democratic affordances was astonishing. It is surprising that 30 years on, the ruling party has regressed this much. The doyens of SA democracy like Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Albertina Sisulu, Amina Cachalia, Ama Naidoo and many others must be turning in their graves seeing delegates so intolerant of each other, ill-disciplined, normless, rowdy, violent and downright arrogant. The said traits are a sharp contrast of what freedom fighters stood and died for. It is often argued that the ANC is the microcosm of the nation, and therefore these behaviours reflect the depth of normlessness in the broader society, and it should worry everyone concerned. This article reflects on what transpired at the conference, which did not inspire confidence at all in ordinary citizens, I argue.
The disorganisation that led to an eight-hour delay for an organisation like the ANC is an anomaly. No amount of reasons furnished by their then spokesperson, Pule Mabe, was fathomable. It is well known that the organisation did not have a secretary-general for a long time, and even worse, the then-deputy secretary-general who took the reins unfortunately died, and the Treasury had to step in and juggle three jobs. All these were put forward as reasons that led to the chaos seen at registration. If you ask me, those reasons are not compelling enough for an organisation as big as the ANC. If they understood the importance of the offices, they would have identified competent people to take over these roles and prepare for this important conference. It takes a disorganised entity to even fail to ask provinces to suggest names of people who can take up these vacant positions. A lot of what did not go well in the preparation demonstrated that this was not their preoccupation at all. The outgoing Top six/four, as they were affectionately known, is to blame for this mess. They had failed to execute their mandate dismally, and unfortunately, it had to be seen by the whole world. It is no wonder then that the society that the ANC leads is littered with all societal ills: GBV, unemployment, an energy crisis, and alarming crime levels. These failures could be interpreted as inherent in the ANC. People would then ask themselves a very tricky question, i.e., how can they govern us if they fail to even organise their own events? How can they arrest these complex social ills if they themselves are trapped in this manner of disarray? One would wonder if the organisation of OR Tambo does give itself time to self-introspect, see their mistakes, and fix them, or if their preoccupation is political positions so that they can access the national purse with ease.
The level of ill-discipline of the delegates was out there for everyone to see. From the top right down to the ordinary members, this saddened everyone concerned, I am sure. One could also argue that the media was perhaps overzealous in showing us the ugly side of the delegates. The snippets of interviews that were shown on television were shocking, with everyone grabbing a microphone and articulating his or her position at will. The language that was used had all the hallmarks of disunity: jostling for positions, pronouncing contradictory positions on their mandates, and dissing each other as if they were not from the same political party. The songs sung and slogans used were those of sworn enemies; it was a winner-take-all type of affair. This begs many questions, i.e., when and how did the leader of society (the ANC) become this divided? How has this been allowed to happen? What type of democracy is this? It would be disingenuous of me to pretend as if these were the first. In ward meetings and regional and provincial conferences, these scenes have been reported many times, but no one from the organisation cares to reflect on this undemocratic behaviour and arrest the situation. Sadly, it has even led to the deaths of many councillors in the recent past. This rowdy behaviour has been accepted as the culture of the ANC conferences, but as to how this is democracy, it beats me.
The above point leads to another elusive quandary in the ANC, i.e., lack of political education. Most liberation movements across the globe had strong military and political schools in their respective camps. The ANC is no exception to this; it had its own strong political schools (lessons) that were set up in exile and internally. Post-1994, there have been various attempts to emphasise political education, but the results are not showing on the ground. Interestingly, when you listen to the seniors of the organisation narrating the problems of the ANC, very few, if any, would leave out the importance of political education for the growth and sustainability of the organisation. However, it was shocking to listen to the answers from the current delegates when being interviewed on the policy position of the party; some even go to the extent of distorting the organisation’s own history. The problem perhaps lies both in the current curriculum and the recruitment system of the party. They may need to relook at how they recruit and induct their members. Historically, the ANC was known for its meticulous system of recruiting and grooming its members and cadres. But again, it could be that material conditions have changed and the organisation lagged behind and did not realise that it was using an old system that was effectively no longer applicable, and that system has backfired.
The politics of regionalism or tribalism were also evident in the language and behaviour of the delegates. The ANC has allowed its internal political squabbles to degenerate into the politics of delegates’ numbers over substance, cult over quality, and populism over virtue. These traits should worry the ANC because they are not only killing the organisation, but also introducing a very dangerous political culture for the country. In every way you look at them, they are at odds with the core values of modern-day democracy. Ironically, these very things were de-campaigned by the same organisation in their political struggle for liberation. The ANC’s political education was firmly rooted in the ethos of non-racialism, non-sexism, non-regionalism, and an inclusive South Africa. Lately, delegates push for candidates that can reciprocate with proceeds after ascending to the highest office. The delegate’s inherited animosity is worrisome. There is zero impartiality, zero critical debate, and zero honesty among the people who fervently call each other comrades. It is unfortunate that the absence of the above breeds zero accountability, no integrity, no fairness, no honour and zero respect. The current mentality is that if the candidate is not from my tribe or region, he or she is not competent enough, and I am not going to support his or her campaign.
The other issue that is killing the ANC is the glaring gap between the old and young generations, i.e., intergenerational mix. The gap is both conceptual and structural. Sadly, owing to the organisation’s history and culture, seniority is still Struggle credentials based. This has created a huge discomfort among youth – the old are deliberately hogging positions, not grooming the young talent. It could be argued that perhaps cadres were too many in line to be deployed, as they call it, and this has inevitably created a backlog for the next generation of leaders. The generational mix is visibly non-existent at all levels of authority except in designated structures like youth leagues and youth desks. Interestingly, some seniors have clandestinely used youth to fight their political battles, and as a result, they are no longer able to be supported to grow as leaders of tomorrow. This, in my view, has pushed the youth into tenders without proper entrepreneurial training, and this is badly affecting the country’s economic fibre (this is a big topic on its own that needs to be tackled broadly). The competition for positions at all levels is no longer about a noble course (nation building) but self-enrichment. This is neither healthy for the ANC nor the country; it must stop if we are to see a prosperous South Africa.
There were just too many things that went wrong in the conference that I cannot cover comprehensively in this article. Suffice to say, the ANC needs to do a thorough introspection and correct all these wrongs. It is clear that the values of the founders of this once glorious organisation have been completely eroded. The degree of normlessness and disharmony among members is palpable. If it is still looking to be the trusted leader of society, it must unlearn all these bad traits and renew itself truthfully and holistically. It must also allow other role-players space to influence the nation-building discourse, including the civil society, faith-based organisations, intellectuals, youth, people with disabilities, women, and other political organisations.
*Khumbulani Mngadi is and independent analyst based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.