Thembile Ndabeni
The chickens are finally coming home to roost for the ANC. What goes around comes around and, as the saying goes, you reap what you sow.
Former president Thabo Mbeki said it – that the ANC was under attack.
It has itself to blame. When General Augusto Pinochet was on the path to overthrow Salvador Allende in Chile, a call came to “arm the masses”. The call was ignored. The same applies to the ANC government; people demonstrated their discontent, but it failed to arm the masses by continuing to not render services and ignore them. The major downfall for the ANC is mainly due to the internal factors.
When the ANC was up there, its members holding high positions were “high class” and undermined people, yet they were there because of their vote. Nomvula Mokonyane mastered that. She insulted people when she said they did not need their “dirty votes”. That was the time of Jacob Zuma’s reign. The irony was that Zuma would not dare say that. As a result, some of those “dirty votes” went to Zuma now. Others went to other political parties. But other votes were “frozen”; people did not vote. The likes of Mokonyane went through a “transformation” – from being leaders to becoming celebrities and bourgeoisie.
They were no longer servants of the people. As Fikile Mbalula put it, they had become “power drunk”.
Just before the elections, the mayor of Buffalo City was nowhere to be found when residents went to him with their problems. They told him that he would see what would happen on election day. In the Western Cape, which is predominantly coloured, they spoke about African leadership.
The likes of Gayton McKenzie remembered and took offence at how coloureds had been insulted. Trevor Manuel was also treated with disdain, especially after Mbeki’s term in office. Manuel is respected nationally and internationally. As a result, he can bring the much-needed coloured vote and contribute to the image of the country internationally. The issue of African leadership, even if it is upheld, is narrowly based.
The ANC “ayirhabulanga”, old, middle and young, except a few. This is because they do not read, discuss and debate more than taking part in factional battles. Watching political parties debate about the elections, the way Mbuyiseni Ndlozi mesmerised Mzwandile Masina raised eyebrows.
Masina was not speaking informatively and with confidence.
After the unbanning of political parties and during the period of negotiations, the ANC, and its alliance partners, especially the SACP, used to have robust debates with no labelling to discourage the debate. Discussions and debate with umrhabulo sharpened and made it a better political being.
Where is the ANC’s Political School? Those who got promoted because of popularity, slates, and bribery in different forms, get exposed. Obviously in that mix emerge leaders who are not committed and qualified – then a path to corruption becomes easy.
Best lesson for the ANC: You must not take people for granted. Votes are not about you, but about them; just like in business, it is the customers who matter and not you. If you do not respect them, they can go and buy somewhere.
Go and humble yourself and apologise to the voters you disappointed.
Go back to the other “half” of the population who did not vote because they were disappointed by you.
The ANC must cleanse itself and take everything out, even the ones it still needs, before taking them back again. First shake the dust off and clean them before taking them back in. Thoroughly scrutinise the ones it needs back.
The ANC veterans were involved rather late in the election campaign; many people had already made up their minds. Secondly, there were a lot of ANC voters who “froze” their votes from 2016 until now who still “bleed” from the wounds from the party they trusted very much. These are the people who contributed immensely to the collapse of the ANC in the elections.
Now 2026 and 2029 are around the corner and the ANC needs to go to the voters, apologise, promise, and address their concerns. After that, make constant contact with the people in all nine provinces.
That large number of NEC/NWC must be deployed in the provinces, listen to the people, take them to the headquarters to be addressed and report back. In doing so there must be no lies, deception, false promises, rhetoric, or cover-up.
Elections proved that from the current ANC leaders there is no individual who can save the ANC from losing power. Therefore, factions are no longer a threat; instead “faction drivers and riders” are the ones who have no choice but to “transform” or leave the party and not the other way around as it is.
The results of these elections are the best mirror ever for the ANC to thoroughly look at itself failing, for which it must kiss retaining power goodbye. Some parties were formed specially to collapse it and it is easy to hear, see and therefore know.
As much as Mbeki stated that the ANC has enemies, from inside, but both internal and external enemies can be defeated. From the side of the people, it must use a very fine “strainer” for “straining” people from becoming members. That would be saving the ANC as foreseen by Nelson Mandela.
That added with the features the ANC must retain can make it able to deal with external factors. Among these features factors.
Among those features is unity, and unity is strength.
* Ndabeni is a former history tutor at UWC and a former teacher at Bulumko Senior Secondary School in Khayelitsha.
Cape Times