Why the ANC can’t introspect

President Jacob Zuma with Gwede Mantashe, Kgalema Motlanthe and Mathews Phosa. Until the ANC sheds its compromised leadership there will be no incentive to modernise, says the writer. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

President Jacob Zuma with Gwede Mantashe, Kgalema Motlanthe and Mathews Phosa. Until the ANC sheds its compromised leadership there will be no incentive to modernise, says the writer. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

Published Apr 23, 2017

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The party’s ability to grow is tied to its ability to interrogate its trajectory and respond to  events, writes Onkgopotse JJ Tabane.

One of the biggest weaknesses of the ANC is the question of a balance between the archaic concept of “closing ranks” and being able to respond to the dynamic nature of public discourse which has no respect for dry party processes.

The party’s approach is so archaic as to suggest the ANC is failing to modernise itself as a governing political party as opposed to an underground movement of liberation. In order to attract quality membership, the ANC has to face the demon of resistance to modernise. The presidential candidates have not pronounced themselves clearly on this crucial matter. In fact, none of them is committed to modernising the ANC.

At a conference, secretary-general Gwede Mantashe noted that the people who hurt the ANC the most were those who spoke out from within the party. That was the clearest indication yet that the ANC did not tolerate dissent. His conduct five years later is a clear indication that such an attitude towards internal democracy is unsustainable.

The past two years have shown that the insistence of clamping down on dissenting voices will probably weaken the party’s chances to increase its traditional base, and attract or retain the middle class. Its ability to grow is directly proportional to its ability to rigorously interrogate its trajectory and respond to rapid events that are shaping the body politic.

In the past decade the ANC has seen an exodus of technical and political talent. The technical talent of the people who used to shape its thinking departed mostly after the Mbeki era. The likes of Joel Netshitenzhe who was the author a mountain of ANC documents, inside and outside the government. The quality of the current trudge of material coming out of Luthuli House leaves much to be desired. Policy documents are so ideologically bland that they can’t be compared to seminal documents such as “Through the eye of the needle”, to cite one anecdote. They also demonstrate a possible policy brain drain and an evaporation of new ideas in the face of the multiple challenges facing society and a growing sea of discontent rooted in poor economic growth.

The talent that the ANC has shed owing to numerous splits since 1994 left its political arena dry and unappealing to voters as evidenced by the local government elections bloodbath in the metros. In order to stem this tide, the traditional sheep-mentality approach to ANC life anchored around the so-called democratic centralism will not work. It is dated and should be abandoned in favour of a more analytical assessment of material conditions that can respond to voter temperature in certain localities without being bogged down by national egos.

For this reason that there was excitement recently when the likes of Tony Yengeni, Ayanda Dlodlo, Makhosi Khoza and Mathole Motshekga spoke out of turn about the big questions facing the movement such as land and corruption. Even Jackson Mthembu’s outburst, calling on the ANC national executive committee to resign or the brave motion of no confidence steered by Derek Hanekom, was welcomed by many supporters who are increasingly feeling a sense of despair about whether the movement has the capacity for self-correction.

There is a sense in which actions that would jolt the ANC into true introspection is required urgently. Even a flicker of hope jolts supporters to grab any straws thrown their way. These become straws when the above-mentioned luminaries somersault or do not follow through with what initially looked like a brave departure from the tradition of closing ranks.

The recent horrific let-down was the response of the top three officials - Mantashe, deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and treasurer Zweli Mkhize - to the president’s reckless reshuffle of his cabinet. When these officials demonstrated no balls to follow through with their displeasure many began to make a painful but necessary mental adjustment that the ANC is not about to modernise. I am not reducing the ANC’s problems only to modernisation but using a set of political developments that have more contradictions to underscore the theme of failure to launch into a new and modern era.

What complicates matters is a sense of inertia fuelled by patronage. Until the ANC sheds its compromised leadership there will be no incentive to modernise as this would mean that a space will be opened where instead of encouraging action to restore integrity, there will always be a leaning towards closing ranks for the sake of fake party unity.

In all this delay, the victims will be ordinary people who have placed their faith in the ANC of values and integrity but are daily experiencing an ANC of corruption and scandal. An ANC that is scared to modernise because this will mean an acceptance of true introspection.

* Tabane is the author of Let’s Talk Frankly and the anchor of Power Perspective on Power FM 98.7

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

The Sunday Independent

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