Publications
Partners
Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, my president, is a very angry man.
At the start of his address at the KwaZulu-Natal provincial conference last week, a forthright Zuma told delegates, in no uncertain terms, what he thought of them: while people were staging service-delivery protests in the streets, they, the conference delegates, were missing in action. This stern rebuke was met with a hushed silence in the hall, betraying a tinge of guilt perhaps? This was the stuff of leadership.
Could it be that while KZN was burning, the delegates were fiddling with voting-slate constructions and dress rehearsals for the provincial chairmanship contest?
At the appropriate moment, while naming no names, the president launched a visceral attack on Kgalema Motlanthe, once a leading trade unionist and subsequently ANC secretary general, and finally, a stop-gap president of the country who warmed the seat for Zuma. Erstwhile colleagues they had suddenly become.
Pastor Jacob Zuma then turned his guns on the Reverend Frank Chikane, who he lambasted for his political utterances, advising him to rather stick to matters pastoral.
Finally, my president aimed a glancing blow in the direction of another non-person, a former director-general who, but for this exalted mention, is in essence nondescript.
The crime, it was said, was that they had taken it upon themselves to publicly criticise the ANC. Oh, the temerity!
In a recent interview, Motlanthe didn’t have nice things to say about the state of the tripartite alliance – the ANC, trade union Cosatu and the SA Communist Party – an assessment shared by many.
Besides, this yesterday’s man had the effrontery to opine on the calibre of the ANC leadership, which, he lamented, was devoid of essential competencies. Zuma didn’t delve into the veracity or otherwise of Motlanthe’s observations; just how could he, who had the opportunity to say these things while in the glow of leadership, choose to say them now? It’s cold outside leadership echelons, Zuma observed mysteriously.
Motlanthe has been consistent in his unpopular pronouncements. Days before Zuma’s blast, the ANC, courtesy of its spokesperson, Zizi Kodwa, commended Motlanthe for openly expressing his views, saying how wise a counsellor he has always been. It was an uncomfortable statement, but a wise one. Evidently, it was an ANC position not shared by the party’s secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe. In what is becoming a regular volte-face, he cited Chinese proverbs about this cold blast that visits people once they leave office. I would pay a ransom to understand this degree of intolerance. Maybe no prize need be offered for guessing the reason, all things considered?
The ANC is sometimes called a broad church. This refers to the various political and ideological tendencies found and comfortably accommodated within the organisation. We have capitalists – and they are thriving – liberals, social democrats, socialists, Marxists, traditionalists, all of them paying fealty to the policies of the ANC. If for no other reason, the church analogy is apt for an organisation that was founded on prayer, adopted a prayer song for its anthem, regularly starts its conferences with a prayer and has for more than 100 years retained in its organisational structure the position of a national chaplain.
Throughout its history, the ANC has maintained a seamless coexistence with Christianity and given free expression to religious officials in its ranks. With modernisation, the embrace has been widened to take in other faiths: Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, indigenous faiths, the lot. All of them get to bless important conferences when deliberations start.
The ANC also boasts a number of its own devout Christians who have excelled in political leadership while remaining steadfast in the practice of their faiths. Look no further than Chief Albert Luthuli and Oliver Tambo, both distinguished past presidents.
Let’s get this right. The history of the struggle for liberation would be false in its telling if it did not recognise the enormous role played by church leaders individually and as representatives of their institutions.
In recent times, the SA Council of Churches, with its multiplicity of affiliated denominations, comes to mind. Before that, you had Fathers Trevor Huddleston, Cosmas Desmond and many others who spoke out strongly against apartheid and who, for their troubles, faced banning orders, house arrests, torture and other forms of punishment reserved for political activists by the racist regime.
When, on August 31 1988, Khotso House, headquarters of the SA Council of Churches and other organisations, was destroyed by a bomb planted by agents of the apartheid regime, guess who was the council’s general secretary, having succeeded Dr Beyers Naude? Also guess whose luggage was poisoned at (the now renamed) OR Tambo International Airport by apartheid security agents? None other than Frank Chikane.
These reprisals were not for his religious beliefs, but for the liberation politics he pursued stubbornly and defiantly from the pulpit. Twenty years into democracy, he is being asked to back off on political commentary. I fear Chikane will not heed Zuma’s admonition, however thin his patience may be wearing.
The paradox is that Chikane’s concern is about corruption, vote-buying in ANC branches and other structures, factionalism, and so on. The president, certainly in his public statements, has similarly decried these malpractices. Recall what he said at the ANC’s recent national general council and when he addressed the ANC Women’s League conference?
Chikane and millions of South Africans who vote ANC in elections fear that the magnitude of the rot could cost their beloved ANC dearly in next year’s municipal elections. And they say so. Shoot not the messenger.
If what caused Zuma’s wrath is the belief that Chikane gave the media a document that reflects the views of ANC veterans who participated in the consultations, that belief is baseless. All we ever wanted to do was convey comrades’ observations to Luthuli House. To this end, Chikane meticulously followed all internal processes and received the requisite clearances. He had hoped that a delegation of these long-serving ANC members would be given an audience. Nearly five months on, and in the aftermath of the froth, fire and brimstone emanating from the KZN conference, it is beginning to look as if Chikane and the veterans may be waiting for Greek calends.
I have been fairly expansive in discussing my understanding of the historical relationship between the ANC and the church, and the organisation’s stance on freedom of expression. I do this on the basis of my exposure to ANC thinking and practice on this subject over many years.
Suggesting that priests, pastors and other ordained church officials may not pronounce themselves on political matters would be in conflict with ANC traditions and beliefs, and it would be inimical to the organisation’s interests.
I would like to think that the statement was made in a fit of rage. Emanating as it did from the highest ANC office, it merits a rectification.
Msimang is an ANC veteran
Why does the ANC react badly to criticism?
SMS your thoughts to 35697 using the keyword ANC. Each SMS costs R1.50. Please include your name
