One thing is becoming clearer with each day that brings us closer to the ANC national conference: the leadership contest is not about SA and its problems.
If anyone still hoped that the ruling party would use the conference to finally make good on its promise to renew itself and, in the process, put SA back on the road to prosperity and unity, they would be bitterly disappointed.
Since the party officially allowed its branches to start nominating candidates for the new national executive committee — which includes the positions of party president and deputy, secretary-general and deputy, national chair, treasurer-general and about 80 additional members — there has been a lot of activity.
Before most branches had a chance to convene meetings to decide whether they want President Cyril Ramaphosa to win a second term as party leader, their provincial leaders were publicly pronouncing their own preferences. This was a bid to influence, if not muzzle, branches that may hold different views.
The actions of the ANC provincial strongmen make a mockery of the ruling party’s claim to be a democratic organisation whose national leaders are a reflection of its members on the ground.
Former president Kgalema Motlanthe, who heads the ANC electoral committee overseeing the campaign season, is right to slam the provincial executive committees and regional structures that have publicly announced who they want elected without first hearing from the branches.
“The nomination and election process as approved ... is a democratic, transparent and fair one which disallows factionalism through deals made by a few leaders working together in a dark room,” said Motlanthe in a letter to acting ANC secretary-general Paul Mashatile on Friday.
He threatened disciplinary action against leaders refusing to abide by the rules. The only thing one can fault Motlanthe for is that he took too long to write the letter — opening himself up to conspiracy theories that he is speaking up only now that eThekwini and other structures opposed to Ramaphosa’s re-election are publicly endorsing former health minister Zweli Mkhize for the ANC presidency.
He probably would have avoided such accusations had he spoken out immediately after the Limpopo PEC and their counterparts in Gauteng announced that they will back Ramaphosa’s second-term bid, with Mashatile as his deputy.
He had another opportunity to speak out when the Mpumalanga PEC said it also wanted Ramaphosa back, but would lobby for the young justice minister, Ronald Lamola, to become deputy president.
Besides its timing, Motlanthe’s letter hits the nail on the head. What is happening in the ANC is no democratic process, it is the kind of back room deal making that is unlikely to deliver the high calibre of political leaders the country needs.
Yes, the ANC may be on its way out of government in 2024. But the NEC elected in December this year would still have a great say over our politics and public administration for the next 18 months.
That would be a long period in the hands of people with no inclination to put the country’s challenges at the centre of what they do.
Judging by some of the names being bandied about as candidates for the party’s top six, the deal makers aren’t looking for the best within the party’s ranks to lead them.
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The deal makers aren’t looking for the best within the party’s ranks to lead them - it's all about serving the interests of provincial cabals
Instead it is all about serving the interests of provincial cabals and ensuring that one’s candidate has enough numbers to make it into the ballot box.
What becomes uppermost in the minds of all the competing factions is to come up with a slate that would satisfy as many provinces as possible, instead of looking at who can best serve at national level.
The end result, no matter who wins the presidency, will be a weak top six — constituted by individuals whose only strength is that they come from provinces with big delegations at the conference.
To further demonstrate that the run-up to the conference isn’t really a democratic contest but an opportunity for provincial cartels to strike deals, none of the presumed candidates have bothered to say what they are bringing to the table, in terms of vision and policy proposals, with three months to go.
They all say the “party will decide”. By “party”, they mean the provincial strongmen who do all the horse trading.
Then we wonder why the kind of leaders produced at these conferences every five years are unable to fix our electricity crisis, free us from being the most unequal society in the world or create work opportunities for our children.
The whole game is not about us.
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