Cape Town - Ugly scenes that played out in front of the ANC Johannesburg headquarters were merely the “tip of the iceberg”, one of the party’s most respected veterans has warned.
And increasing bitterness between opposing camps within the ANC could bring about a dramatic event that will be a game-changer for the ruling party and the government, Professor Ben Turok said.
And calls for a ANC special conference continue to mount.
Turok said the situation was very dismal and only a “very dramatic event such as the replacement of the president” could begin to resolve the “crisis”.
He disagreed with the actions of #OccupyLuthuliHouse, a group of ANC members who marched to the party’s headquarters to deliver a memorandum calling for ANC president Jacob Zuma and the entire ANC national executive to resign.
#OccupyLuthuliHouse has called for the formation of a task team comprising veterans to take the ANC to a consultative conference for renewal.
“These youngsters who want Zuma and the NEC to resign, it doesn’t help, but it can happen in a peaceful way without destroying everything,” Turok said.
“We are in a severe crisis in which the ANC is seriously fragmented, with factions and groupings disaffected for different reasons.”
What was required was “a broad consultative meeting that would be non-elective” which would be constituted by leaders from across the board, he said.
“There’s a simple solution, Cyril Ramaphosa needs to be put in as the provisional president, because we need an interim solution for we can’t go on like this. This needs to be a smooth takeover, where Zuma would leave after a consultative process across the board,” Turok said.
“People are frustrated. In this situation there’s no logic. This has created desperation and a crisis which has to be resolved by a broad consultative meeting,” he said, and added that failure to arrest the situation could lead to a revolt given “the levels of anger and frustration” of ordinary people on the ground.
Turok said those who should feature in a consultative meeting included former foreign affairs director general Sipho Pityana, and “several distinguished leaders of the movement” who were present recently at the funeral of former sports minister Makhenkesi Stofile, where they applauded Pityana when he called for Zuma’s resignation.
SACP deputy general secretary Thulas Nxesi added his party’s voice to calls for a conference. Addressing his party’s Mpumalanga provincial congress on Saturday, he lamented the internal fights in the ANC.
“This conference will have to be deliberately structured to avoid, among others crippling divisions, spiralling ill-discipline, despicable arrogance as well as the manipulation of candidate lists,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ANC women’s and youth leagues as well as the military veterans’ structures have been particularly disparaging of the #OccupyLuthuliHouse group.
MK veterans leader Kebby Maphatsoe this week defended his members’ involvement in the fracas with #OccupyLuthuliHouse members. He also accused former ANCYL leader Ronald Lamola of mobilising “disgruntled members” against the party.
However, the mother body took a different approach. “While we don’t support activities which undermine internal ANC processes, we respect the right to differ, with maximum restraint and discipline,” ANC national spokeswoman Khusela Sangoni said.
The ANC’s top brass has asked for a meeting on Tuesday with a delegation of #OccupyLuthuliHouse, with general secretary Gwede Mantashe stating “we want to take them through their memorandum”.
The group submitted a memorandum demanding:
* The immediate resignation of Zuma.
* The immediate resignation of the NEC.
* The formation of a task team comprising stalwarts to take the ANC to a consultative conference for renewal.
* The immediate implementation of free and quality education and the disbandment of the fees commission.
Mantashe, however, slammed the group for what he said were contradictions in their memorandum of demands which he likened to being thrown in the dustbin with the hope that somebody will pick it up and read it.
“Their approach is dissolving the organisation but (how) the organisation will correct and deal with those issues when (it) is dissolved, that is contradiction in terms, because if there is no organisation you’re saying nobody must attend to these issues.”
Independent Media