Clawing back lost ground a lost cause despite Mbeki’s efforts

By Bheki Mngomezulu

Former president Thabo Mbeki has been hard at work lately in his relentless effort to reignite the ANC in the context of the party’s justifiable renewal agenda.

Mbeki’s meetings in the Free State and Gauteng provinces afforded him the opportunity to engage local structures and the local leadership to make concrete proposals on what the ANC should do if it wants to regain the trust of the South African people and avert its further decline.

What is noticeable in Mbeki’s efforts is his evident determination to revive the ANC and the leadership prowess which he has demonstrated in his public statements. Importantly, Mbeki has been brutally honest in his assessment of his organisation.

Among other things, he has consistently made a compelling argument that while it is true that the ANC has the potential to renew itself, this goal will not be achieved unless the party cleanses itself. This point is hard to refute, especially because the ANC’s wounds are self-inflicted. They have nothing to do with opposition political parties which have challenges of their own.

In this regard, Mbeki has described the leadership of his party as being corruption ridden and thus needing to purify itself. Secondly, he has consistently called for the auditing of the party’s membership. Indeed, the calibre of the leadership and membership of the ANC currently is not convincing on many fronts. This is evidenced in part in the fact that details of the party’s private meetings land in the hands of outsiders having been leaked by senior leaders of the party.

So, Mbeki’s proposal on the need to cleanse the party and audit its membership is predicated on the correct assessment that the problem does not only reside with the membership, but also with the leadership which has derailed from ANC principles the party has been known for since its formation in 1912. Both the leadership and membership of the party leave a lot to be desired. By extension, the calibre of the party’s national, provincial, and local leadership does not inspire hope that the renewal agenda is achievable.

Some among the leadership of the ANC are guilty of dereliction of their duties by lagging in service delivery, thereby distancing the ANC from the electorate as evidenced in the May 2024 general election. Some are guilty of engaging in corrupt activities which paint the party in a bad light. Some are guilty of being cheerleaders to the extent that they mislead even the leader of the party as confirmed by the 2021 unrest and the Phala Phala saga which involved the president.

Many of them are guilty of sustaining factional politics which results in the deployment of incapable cadres just because they belong to a popular faction within the party even if they lack requisite skills and knowledge to perform their duties.

Factional politics have become the cancer that is eating the ANC. Some capable members and leaders have been sidelined. The same has happened in other government entities such as the judiciary and Chapter 9 institutions. Similarly, incompetent people have been appointed in critical positions at all levels. This has dampened the spirit of honest members of the ANC while pushing away many South Africans who have voted for the ANC since 1994.

Surely, as an elder, Mbeki’s actions are justifiable. He is concerned when seeing the ANC go on a downward spiral in terms of its performance in each election. The results of the May 8, 2019, general election saw the ANC registering a mere 57.51 percent of the votes.

Compared to all other elections since 1994, this was the party’s lowest performance which should have sounded a warning to the leadership. It failed to act appropriately. The worse was yet to come.

This inaction by the leadership had dire consequences. It is a shame that the ANC only obtained 40 percent of the support in the 2024 general election. The last-minute deployment of senior members of the ANC such as Mbeki, David Mabuza, Tokyo Sexwale and others was too little too late.

Among the reasons for this dismal performance by the ANC was denialism. When analysts like me warned the ANC that it ran the risk of getting below 50 percent, we were dubbed ‘prophets of doom’ until we were vindicated by the results of the election.

Mbeki’s genuine intentions raise a few questions. Will his efforts help the ANC claw back its lost ground? Are his efforts enough to address the many challenges which confront the party?

Will his efforts be welcome by the leadership and the membership, or will there be a push-back by those who are benefiting from the present situation? Can Mbeki single-handedly rescue the ANC from itself or should other elders in the party join hands to work with him?

Importantly, can we say that the current leadership of the ANC is oblivious to the realities the party is currently facing? If it is, does it deserve to lead the party? If not, can it be trusted that it will oversee the ANC’s renewal process?

These are all critical questions which only the ANC can address adequately. It cannot take an individual like Mbeki to see the real threat to the ANC and propose practical solutions when the party has leaders and members who claim to like their organisation.

For Mbeki to succeed in his mission he needs full support from the leadership and membership of the ANC. Should one segment not come to the party, no change will happen.

To assist Mbeki, the ANC must stop being complacent. Secondly, its leadership must desist from being denialists. Thirdly, it must refrain from being too defensive to the extent of dismissing constructive criticism as hatred for the ANC.

Fourthly, both the leadership and membership should rise above political parochialism.

Lastly, the leadership must not treat the ANC as personal property. Unless these things happen, Mbeki’s efforts will be a fruitless exercise!

* Professor Bheki Mngomezulu, Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Non-Racialism and Democracy at the Nelson Mandela University.

** The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media