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David Dube’s book The Al Capones of Mpumalanga explores the political realities that typify the ANC and its structures in the province notorious for always making headlines for all the wrong reasons due to bad political decisions made by bad political leaders.
As a result Mpumalanga has been dubbed Mamparalanga because of the utterances of political leaders which border on intellectual buffoonery.
At some point, as a political strategy to deal with detractors and those who dared to raise their voices against dictatorial tendencies of certain leaders, the powers that be manufactured stories about their opponents.
They peddled lies that desperate political agents provocateurs of the 1996 class project were employing desperate anarchist methods to unleash mayhem and political instability within the provincial political discourse.
Dube, who has been a deputy to ANC chairperson David Mabuza, narrates the political shenanigans of the party in Mpumalanga, which entrenched factionalism, cronyism and patronage.
ANC leaders who opposed and challenged these nefarious tendencies which negated ANC values, were vilified, demonised and ostracised.
The book serves as a presentation on rudimentary political education – against using the ANC as a mechanism to fulfil self-enrichment through criminal means.
It cautions against the Zanufication of the ANC by those bad leaders who use the governing party’s image to pilfer and plunder public resources.
Dube argues that it is critical for all ANC members to toe the line – in line with democratic centralism and unity engagements aimed at addressing schisms and divisions caused by politics of slates, cabals, cliques and factionalism.
The prevailing divisions in the governing party should be dealt with as honestly and robustly as possible because papering over the cracks will only lead to further haemorrhaging organisationally, structurally and, possibly, ideologically.
Read: Mabuza is the ‘Al Capone’of Mpumalanga – former ally Dube
The ANC national leadership has spoken strongly against political gatekeeping at branch levels, lamenting that this practice is a cancer that must be uprooted and exorcised from the party’s political DNA.
Members who encourage these un-ANC practices should be exposed and put on a rigorous and vigorous regiment of political education.
All ANC leaders who abuse their powers to manipulate the election lists process must be exposed and disciplined in accordance with the party’s disciplinary code.
Branch secretaries who keep the membership data in their pockets and use it to intimidate members should be strongly reprimanded and disciplined.
The deep-seated nature of internal ANC factions calls for a robust and rigorous political education campaign that must be centrally driven by Luthuli House with branches being instructed to implement the programme with uncompromising strictness.
Political education classes should also deal with the succession debate which has contributed to the on-going political squabbles and internal strife that has bled the party to near death.
Members should be educated that joining the ANC means total servanthood and that they should make sacrifices for the people instead of seeking self-enrichment and being corrupt.
Gossip-mongering should be frowned on and discouraged because it is through such that the ANC finds itself in this political quagmire.
Party members should be discouraged from being power hungry because it creates dinosaurs who believe that they were pre-ordained to be leaders of the organisation.
It is such dinosaur leaders who cling to power even after their terms have expired, thus creating many centres of power which are not sustainable.
No member should be allowed to defy ANC directives.
Arrogance has been singled out as having cost the ANC dearly and therefore this tendency should be ditched if the ANC is genuinely serious about winning back the trust of the people, especially the middle class.
The on-going infighting in the ANC structures has affected service delivery and as a result the people have become extremely angry.
They have ventilated this anger in different ways, including the destruction of property during protests and demonstrations – action that cannot be justified and must be strongly condemned.
The ANC should therefore use the political education to inculcate in young people the love for education as a tool to make this country an equal global player.
For it cannot be correct to have an ANC that is perceived to be anti-education and anti-intellectualism.
Perhaps, it should be argued, this is the epoch in our lifetime.
Politics should be professionalised by placing qualitative requirements on people who have ambitions for political office.
For it cannot be correct that this is left unprofessionalised, an open haven for political outlaws and crooks to reign supreme with no political consequences.
The ANC belongs to all South Africans who believe in its founding principles and its ideological orthodoxy as encapsulated in its constitution.
It is therefore uncalled for of certain people to conduct themselves as if the ANC is their personal fiefdom in which to do as they please.
The ANC has a rich history of its 107 years of existence as a people’s movement and should not be individualised around individuals with selfish interests.
It should be said that to a great extent, the infighting is caused by petty socioeconomic and political jealousy among members who jostle for positions in order to deal with one another, thus compromising the broader objectives of the ANC as a catalyst for political and economic transformation.
The scourge of political killings within the ANC is a serious cause for concern because it is against the founding vision which is based on the unity of the African people.
The prevailing infighting should be effectively nipped in the bud, failing which the ANC will be socially and politically perceived as having failed to deal with the sins of incumbency.
The Al Capones of Mpumalanga presents a perfect opportunity for the ANC to cleanse its demons and exorcise its ghosts that are eating the rich political fibre of this glorious movement of the people.
Unequivocally, the book will spark robust debate among ANC members and should be used as a political compass that will take the organisation to greater heights.
Ka-Soko is a political analyst
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