A young and agitated South Africa needs new leaders, the entire continent needs a few Emmanuel Macrons to lead them to the future, writes Gugu Ndima.
EN MARCHE! Words so simple yet so piercingly reagent were the powerful slogan which many voters in France needed to hear. “Forward” led to Emmanuel Macron’s landslide victory. A young man without historical burdens said “Forward we go” and inspired a nation. This historical epoch unfolds concurrently with many theatrical moments in South African politics.
The next ANC elective conference is dubbed a potential turning point for the colossal movement. The season of succession jostles unfolds as the public watches. It rummages itself, precipitating further divisions. Supposed hopefuls are fuelling PR campaigns towards the run-up for the presidential seat. The same hopefuls who presided over the demise of a world-renowned political institution.
The ANC has produced a fearless generation of leaders.
However, society is choosing to move forward without the ANC. This is evidenced by political events as a result of socio-economic disparities and many grassroots movements springing up.
One of the most warped justifications of this demise of liberation movements has been the unproven truism that the movements are destined for the same fate. This justification is peddled by the same generation that is at the helm of destruction and perverse looting of resources.
The golden generation of the best revolutionary leaders who led and continue to lead post-liberation, are reduced to being a blessing to history and a curse to the future. The contestation in the ANC is a tug-of-war among the same generation, fuelled by a sense of entitlement not only to the past and the present, but tragically the future too.
The generation of leadership is reproducing itself through the young. Young people of the ANC have been reduced to child soldiers with no guns but tied to bonds of patronage and sources of livelihood dispatched by the old guard. The precarious consequences of this are the intellectual and political stagnation where the same school of thought and the same pool of leaders will be recycled - and rejected by society.
There is also a growing sense of a monopoly of wisdom among the liberation generation of elders. They feel entitled to finding solutions for the future.
No nation-building solutions or dialogues from this generation can produce needed outcomes for South Africa’s future. If the younger generation don’t guard against aborting its generational mission, 20 years from now the ANC will still be embroiled in battles inherited from current leaders.
The ANC has great minds and potential, unfortunately idling in factions or in the political periphery, dodging bullets of the internal turmoil. The ANC has many young women and men who represent what Macron represents to the people of France - a future.
Yet the generation of economic emancipation must fight for space and ensure that a Macron rises and the contestation in the ANC becomes a contestation of the young versus the old.
For its survival, the ANC must embody what South Africa is in the form of a leader. South Africa is young and agitated, the next leader must respond to the likes of Musawenkosi Saurombe, the youngest PhD graduate in her field in Africa. It must respond to a new dispensation of grassroots movements. It must respond to the young entrepreneurs who must build the economy. It must respond to today’s struggles and challenges faced by millions of young people.
The political spectrum, be it in unions, political formations or civil society must represent the growing community under bridges entrapped in poverty, young women trafficked daily under the pretext of finding jobs, the young and agitated working class exploited in the retail and services industry.
The ANC and South Africa need a generational revolt, the entire continent needs Macrons to lead them to the future.
Macron is probably no genius or maverick. However, his win represents the growing voices in need of change and new ideas. Africa needs progressive young leaders with no bondages from the past and who will take the continent to greater heights.
The struggle isn’t over; it’s changed shape. The generation with a mission to emancipate South Africa from economic injustice must lead this leg of the race.
Macron represents a new dawn for the people of France. South Africa must follow suit and a generation of young and new minds must take South Africa forward.
* Ndima is an ANC member. She writes in her personal capacity.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.