Neil de Beer
I REMEMBER the times, as a young man, fighting a fight of oppression and suffering of so many and the then words of “sifuna konke,” or translated “we want it all”.
These words in the days of the glorious struggle, now only a memory, was meant to be referring that we wanted freedom, dignity, and yes, all that we thought a rainbow nation could bring. This ideology of a great future of freedom and rights for all was the focus, but sadly now, today, the slogan of “we want it all” no doubt has a different meaning to the so-called modern cadre.
Greed, power, money and state capture is now the focus of “sifuna konke”, and the evidence does no longer just gets whispered in dark alleyways and corridor but lay in thousands of Zondo Commission files and documents of looting and theft, corruption and thuggery for all to see.
In his own submission, the current embattled President of our nation, Cyril Ramaphosa, verified that state capture was indeed not a figment of many conspirators minds but a harsh reality. If this was a movie analogy, the Lion King is truly the closest you can get.
Opening scenes of a beautiful lush green land filled with life and prosper under the leadership of a pride of lions and a leader of all. The next scene is a picture of a palace revolt and the dead kings brother, with the help of a few hyenas, plunder and take over, with total destruction of this once stunning land. Sound familiar?
It has been close to 30 years of ANC-led state and governance. No one can forget that ANC with Madiba, taking over this new democracy and a promise that never ever again will we suffer the indignities of the past. These words are now cold and forgotten, the oppression today is not merely political only, but hugely we face an “economic genocide of huge proportion”.
You see, the fact of the matter is that we have an ANC in partnership with the SACP and, indeed, a trade union Cosatu. If you analyse it, you will realise that for the past 28 years, this democratic and capitalistic country has been ruled over by a communistic thinking alliance and a Neo-socialist mindset. Oil and water can exist in a barrel, but chemically will never mix!
Again, state-owned entities (SOEs) are bordering on final death, power non-existent and foreign direct investment nearly dried up, barring when we beg at the bottom of the bowl. The then next shock after a nation recovering from a huge economic disaster caused by Covid-19 are national revelations again of the hyaenas, stripping the carcass of treasury in one Covid-19 pandemic looting scandal after another.
If this was not enough, one month from the ANC conference, the huge bombshell of “Farm Gate” and pressure from many sides, one might say an eagerness and frenzy, to remove this president. If one truly was not naive to the ANC inner workings and was not part of any faction, you would clearly know and understand that the “president’s men” would never just allow the demise of a man in power.
It will no doubt take more than a so-called outcome of a group and hugely publicised opinions to topple this pride land’s leader. While huge amount of social media experts and opinion makers found Cyril guilty and pronounced his “falling on the sword”, by no surprise, nearly a week later, the president is still very secure in his seat.
The fact of the matter is nothing, for at least now, with specifically the NWC and NEC of the ANC, deciding to vote against the report, the president also fighting this opinion, will change and not being a proven prophet, we might just have a victorious Cyril Ramaphosa, come end December.
This once united liberation movement, has been broken in so many ways, and the huge voices of a usually strong woman’s and youth league now silent. Also the usual steady protectors of the legacy of the ANC, being the MK VETERANS, disbanded and, in themselves, hugely divided.
It is my humble opinion that the ANC, an organisation so loved by myself and so many, have in itself listened to the historic words of a huge leader OR Tambo, whom I quote said: “That the only thing that can destroy the ANC is indeed the ANC itself”. In 1994, we voted to change a country. It now seems that in 2024 we will need to vote to save a country. Our only hope is that the ANC can free itself from the inside depth of “the belly of the beast”!
Neil de Beer is leader of the United Independent Movement South Africa, an African entrepreneur, a Pan Africanist and a Global Destiny Builder. The views expressed here are his own.