Unite as it falls apart
This long weekend, the ANC, a once proud liberation movement, heads into its 55th elective conference, looking worse and worse.
At 110 years old, the party is showing its age. Fragile, vulnerable, broken.
It is ironic that the conference begins on Reconciliation Day, when the party is far from reconciled.
In any case, the last 15 years since Polokwane have revealed a fractured party, where the struggle for power is the main concern, instead of serving the interests of the citizens.
The two contenders vying for the ANC chairmanship, Cyril Ramaphosa and Zweli Mkhize, have clouds hanging over their heads.
Tuesday’s parliamentary vote on the Section 89 report may have shown ANC MPs back Ramaphosa (for now), but he still has to deal with the Hawks, SARS and Reserve Bank of South Africa investigations. about the Phala Phala saga.
The other contender, Mkhize, the former health minister, is accused of profiting from a R150 million tender to provide Covid-19 communication services given to his allies and close friends. The case is still being investigated by the Hawks and the Special Investigation Unit (SIU).
They are not the only ones with dirty hands. Many of the nominees vying for a spot in the Top 6 have a black mark next to their name, one way or another.
As News24 columnist Mpumelelo Mkhabela writes in this week’s Friday Briefing, the ANC can no longer rely on its larger-than-life presence as its fighting credentials fade into obscurity. He examines what this means for the “unbranded” younger generation looking to take over, like Paul Mashatile.
Analyst professor Tinyiko Maluleke reflects on what is likely to come out of the conference, saying whoever becomes president is likely to make another meaningless promise to South African citizens, who are growing tired of the party’s shenanigans.
News24 columnist and former ANC member Mbhazima Shilowa, who was at the ANC’s Polokwane conference in 2007, draws parallels between what happened there and what we are likely to see this time around.
Finally, Nelson Mandela University’s Dr Ongama Mtimka examines what South Africans should expect beyond the elective lecture and into 2023.
I hope you enjoy reading this long weekend.
Better,
vanessa banton
Opinion editor.
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In the same way that policy discussions were farthest from the minds of delegates at the ANC’s Polokwane conference, Nasrec 2.0 appears to be heading in the same direction, with the focus on competition for leadership positions, he writes. Mbhazima Shilowa.
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Crime statistics, the country’s disease burden, housing stockpiling, poverty, inequality and unemployment, among other things, suggest that we are facing a multifaceted crisis of catastrophic proportions that political fixes are unlikely to address. current economic conditions, writes Ongama Mtimka.
