The concept of the war room inside the ANC did not begin in Luthuli House in the lead-up to 2016 elections, writes Don Makatile.
The concept of the war room inside the African National Congress did not begin with the R1 million that became R100 000 and then ended up in court as a R2. 2 million demand.
It is only that the actors in the Luthuli House cast are out of their depth.
In his February 2009 book Dispatches From the War Room, Stanley B Greenberg makes the point that the ANC convened a war room in the lead-up to the 1994 elections.
He sat in strategy workshops with such ANC luminaries as Gill Marcus, Ketso Gordhan, Pallo Jordan, Marcel Golding and, chiefly, Joel Netshitenzhe.
Popo Molefe had said of Greenberg and his sidekick, Frank Greer: “We would like to work with these people.”
“These people”, the ANC deep throat had advised, had put Bill Clinton in the White House in 1992.
Gordhan is quoted saying: “We are all pretty impressed with the Clinton administration.”
Now, in that 17-hour New York-Johannesburg direct flight Greenberg came to take with the frequency of toilet trips could have been Sihle Bolani.
Only Greenberg was not on these shores to meet with the Twitterati of the ANC – as represented by Shaka Sisulu, allegedly the architect of the 2016 version of the war room. Nor was he here to engage Joseph Nkadimeng and Ignatius Jacobs, who, as it is alleged of the latter, signed off an IOU to Bolani.
Greenberg came for an audience with an ANC that was, at the time, controlled from out of Shell House. He did not fail to notice that Netshitendzhe, “trained as an economist”, “spoke sharply and rapidly using bursts of eloquent English and a contagious laugh”.
Perhaps it is unfair at this point to juxtapose Netshitenzhe with Jacobs with a view to assess who between them commands “considerable respect in ANC circles”. That is not at the core of the matter.
What is at issue is that Netshitenzhe asked, how shall I put it, pertinent and cerebral questions. At no point had he ever inquired about R800 000, if that question ever arose in the new war room set up to win the August 2016 local government elections.
Greenberg says of Netshitenzhe, “while engaged and civil, he was deeply sceptical about the idea of consultants – people who advise but are not part of the political project".
Sisulu – and the heavyweights whose voices are now audible in the new tape unearthed – will take the nation into their confidence and say why, in their infinite wisdom, were people not part of the “political project” suddenly the perfect posse to bring into the skirmish with the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
There was a brief, tense exchange between Greenberg and Netshitendzhe when the former asked the ANC segment of the group how committed they were to the slogan “Now Is The Time”.
“Why do you ask,” Netshitenzhe asked, clearly irritated, as he turned around in his chair three rows in front of me. These are Greenberg’s words.
Suffice it to say, “Now Is The Time” was replaced by “A Better Life For All”.
Now in the 2016 round of the ANC war room, we’re not sure what questions were put to Bolani and how they helped bolster the image of the ANC in the eyes of the electorate. The only proof we have is that the ANC lost three metros!
Of course the Greenberg war room was involved in a dirty tricks campaign – against the evil rulers of the apartheid era.
“Rather than going back to the evils of apartheid,” Joel (Netshitendzhe) said, “we have to show that, even now, under the new transformed (FW) de Klerk, policies still discriminate against black people.” This is from Greenberg’s book.
Shaka Sisulu now says, reportedly: “I was not involved in a smear campaign – we would highlight things about the party, our messaging was positive.”
Really! The very idea of a war room is to fight, not make love.
This is what the pre-1994 war room said of their adversaries, and none of it is lovey-dovey.
“It’s time we had a government that gets our economy moving. The ANC has a plan to give people the training and skills they need. To create a National Public Work Programme alone, 2.5 million jobs over 10 years.
“The National Party had their chance. It’s time for a change.”
Of course the ANC may have done a terrible job of making good on their promises.
But at issue is that, this time around, there were wrong faces in the war room.
Where is Joel Netshitenzhe when you need him?
* The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.