African liberation movements of the Left, such as the ANC, Algeria’s National Liberation Front and Zimbabwe’s Zanu-PF, which have been intellectually influenced by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, all appear to have imbibed the Soviet strategy of maskirovka, a doctrine that makes deliberate deception, dishonesty and doing the opposite of what one says a policy in itself.
This is one way to explain what often appears as ANC policy somersaults, where the governing party and its leaders publicly say one thing, but either do not implement what they say or do the opposite.
This is one reason for the government's indecision, implementation paralysis and state incapacity. In fact, it is at the heart of public service delivery failures. It leaves the private sector, civil society and ordinary citizens in perpetual confusion about the real intentions of the government.
It also leaves SA's trading partners, allies and foreign investors continually perplexed over our real policy positions, stances and actions.
This means almost every ANC policy or statement has to be deciphered almost like ancient hieroglyphics to find its real meaning. Political parties such as the EFF, which are spin-offs from left-leaning ANC liberation movements that were influenced by the Soviet Communist Party, often also incorporate maskirovka, making public policy statements but deliberately doing the opposite.
Maskirovka was devised by political, intelligence and military leaders in the former USSR as a way to win military victories during World War 2.
The 1944 Soviet Military Encyclopaedia defines it as the manipulation of facts to alter local and global perceptions, and calls it an acceptable way to secure political, diplomatic and strategic objectives. There are many examples in current ANC government policies that illustrate what can almost be described as deliberate maskirovka-like deception.
The ANC has made big pronouncements about its new policy of renewal, its intention to clean up the party, get rid of corrupt leaders and model new ethical behaviour.
The party has even announced the establishment of a renewal commission composed of 10 party elders to draft a “programme of unity and renewal”. Of course, this is an oxymoron: renewal involves shedding the corrupt, not keeping the corrupt within the party, unifying with the corrupt.
SA will see the inclusive economic growth, job-creation and societal peace we so desperately need only if the government is honest, authentic and transparent ... and does not engage in Soviet Union maskirovka-like deliberate deception
Despite the ANC leadership's pledges to elect honest leaders, the party recently elected Mandla Msibi, who was accused of murder, to its provincial executive committee in Mpumalanga; elected Zandile Gumede, who faces corruption charges, as its chair in eThekwini; and retained former social development minister Bathabile Dlamini, the ANC Women’s League president who was found guilty of perjury related to the Sassa grant payments corruption scandal in 2017.
Given the acceptance of the tainted Msibi, Gumede and Dlamini in the ANC leadership ranks, despite the ANC “policy” not to tolerate unethical leaders, it is very likely that suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule might try at the ANC’s national elective conference in December to be reinstated as a party member and elected to a senior position.
Similarly, the ANC government has claimed to be “neutral” in the Russia-Ukraine war, saying it is “nonaligned”, while in reality it supports Russia. The ANC government's word play around its stance in the war is a deliberate strategy of deception, maskirovka style.
And its pledges to introduce the critical structural reforms necessary to lift growth and create jobs and new businesses, such as improving the efficiency of the state and prioritising catalytic growth sectors — including renewable energy and telecommunications — are not the full truth either. The truth is, these crucial growth-enhancing sectors will be prioritised only when ANC and government leaders can benefit from their development.
SA will see the inclusive economic growth, job creation and societal peace we so desperately need only if the government is honest, authentic and transparent about policies, decisions and actions, and does not engage in maskirovka-like deliberate deception.
• William Gumede is associate professor, Wits University School of Governance, and author of “Restless Nation: Making Sense of Troubled Times” (Tafelberg)
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