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The ANC is a party weakened by self-serving factions whose chief aim is to push specific names into leadership positions so they could benefit in return.
This is close to how ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe characterised the party during the campaign trail in Bekkersdal, west of Johannesburg, on Wednesday.
The party was infested with corruption from top to bottom, Mantashe continued, saying repeatedly that culprits must be jailed.
He gave an example of China where, he said, they speak of “fighting both the tigers and the flies” to defeat corruption – meaning both big and small fish are dealt with the same.
The ANC is struggling to contain accidental leaders as friends get pushed by factions into leadership roles, Mantashe revealed. It is a party where lobby groups use money to buy votes to advance their candidates.
Track record, performance and time spent in the organisation were no longer critical factors when deciding leadership positions. Winning support and sympathy along tribal lines was becoming a feature, he added.
But the key question in 2017 remains: What is the strategy of Mantashe to rescue the ANC from the rot?
His chief strategy this week was to appeal to the conscience of ANC leaders and members. He spoke of exemplary leaders who “represented ethics and morality”, and of leaders holding themselves to a higher standard.
But no sooner than he uttered his words, two groups of local ANC Youth League members in Bekkersadal danced in front of him, one making the two fingers sign and another raising a single finger.
The symbols represent two factions vying for leadership in the West Rand ANC Youth League, the two fingers called “Value” and the single finger called “Future”.
So Mantashe stepped in again when the music died down, saying: “Comrades, unity is not going to come from heaven. Don’t use symbols that divide the ANC. Those two fingers and one finger; stop dividing the ANC”.
The incident may have been the best indicator that appeal to conscience is unlikely to win the day.
An alternative could be the strategy applied by Joel Netshitenzhe last December during a council of MK veterans, where the theme was the ANC’s potential loss of power and the implications thereof.
One of the implications, said Netshitenzhe, is that thousands of cadres will be out of jobs as the ANC’s power shrinks. He cited as an example the brigade of outgoing councillors post the 2016 municipal elections, who have suddenly had their livelihoods disrupted.
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs announced this week that monies expected to be paid to these councillors – the equivalent of three months salary – were delayed but the process will be fast tracked.
On a balance of scales, the fear of losing power and the hunger that comes with it seems like a better motivator than conscience. Perhaps the hungrier cadres became, the better they would appreciate the importance of revolutionary morality and ethics.
But not all is doom and gloom, according to State Security Minister David Mahlobo, who pointed to the empowerment of members as one of the solutions to the challenges facing the ANC.
Mahlobo accompanied Mantashe together with Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana, as well as Gauteng Finance MEC Barbara Creecy.
“There is a lot of enthusiasm that I have seen,” said Mahobo about the ground campaign that started on Tuesday.
He said the common message among grassroots members was that “in 2017 whatever we do let us prioritise the unity of the organisation irrespective of the challenges we have”.
“Because among them they believe that the ANC is the only thing that can change the lives of our people and I am impressed.”
He said members requested that leaders must find time to come and do political education “because if we give political education we empower them, ideologically, so that they can be in a position as guardians of ANC policy, culture and tradition”.
“But more importantly, when they are empowered politically they will be able to deal with those comrades who want to exploit them for their factional and sectorial interests,” Mahlobo said.
“When members are empowered, even if you are a leader you cannot deceive them because they will tell you, irrespective of the position you hold in the organisation, that that is not how our ANC works”.
