The ANC’s Polokwane Conference marked the beginning of in-ANC strife for the soul of the movement as the nexus of social, political and economic life in South Africa. It marked the beginning of a transition from a movement schooled in the principle of democratic centralism to a one that ‘must’ operate in a world dominated by a neo-liberalised democratic culture. In this culture, society is managed to embrace the notion of ‘equality of opportunity’ as opposed to the struggle era promise of ‘undefined equality’ that blurred the extent to which society is ready to accept an ‘equality of outcomes’ dispensation.
The centrality of the individual as opposed to a collective is thus challenged by the concretising neo-liberal firmament that has also redefined communists from what they are traditionally known to be. The focus on establishing a governing consensus within a heterogeneous ideological firmament is fast outpacing what has traditionally legitimised the struggle against apartheid colonialism; the interests of the poor and marginalised. In this context the ANC’s internal ideological tensions have become the central platform for various shades of populism and demagoguery that threaten to dominate its patterns of theory and practise.
The ability of the ‘ANC establishment’ to deal with such a ructious environment is perpetually undermined by its future leadership’s insatiable quest for social affirmation that is driven by materialistic display of short term wealth based on business practices that do not grow the competitiveness of South Africa. The rigid and stratified decision processing machinery of the ANC, which is reflective of its 100 year history and particularly its 30 year exile phase, remains one of the pillar protections of its legacy against an ‘uninformed’ quest for power by a sizeable in-party constituency that is not prepared to let intergenerational mobility to level-up the contestations.
Whilst this heritage is to the ANC its strength, it has now begun to be one of its socio-political liabilities given the character, composition and form of its youth membership and leadership. The capacity of its history to become more of a national heritage than a party political is one of the ANC’s risks in terms of justifying its existence based on its historical contribution. The struggle for non-racialism and one-man-one vote is fast becoming a political commodity tradable outside the history defined political market. The ANC’s own youth is making silent noises about the generational mix of policies, leadership and cultural orientation of the ANC.
Whilst the organisational make-up of the ANC is generally accepted as an internal check and balance to mitigate the risks of dictatorship by an in party elite, in the general world of neo-liberal in-party democratic practice it has achieved the status of been taken to be generally out-dated. The growing promotion for people to prefer a society where they have control over all levers of social and political accountability discounts the transcendentality of struggle era democratic centralism. The scope of responsibility that the ANC has since assumed in 1994 makes its response to modernisation to be more in-government rather than in party focussed thus limiting its political growth and respect for the sovereignty of the individual.
The absence of an in-party bureaucracy creates; an environment of party unresponsiveness to genuine party political challenges; the inbreeding of corruptive practices such as ‘members of members’; and, an unprincipled nature of politics driven under the guise of opportunity opening and mining. Underpinning these ailments is the inherent character of triumphant liberation movements to take the ‘liberated political constituency’ for granted and thus become static in methods of mobilisation and accountability.
It is on the basis of the above complacency that society continues to misread and misinterpret the current tension within the ANC. Whilst ANC members are viewing the tension in generational and socialist-nationalist terms, society relegates the matter to leadership contestations informed by the quest to control the single biggest budget in the subcontinent. The calls for ‘economic freedom’ in our lifetime become the currency with which such tensions are mediated thus limiting the discourse to those in control of the commanding heights of the economy and all ‘wannabes’ in political and wealth terms.
Because international practice dictates that the base infrastructure for any intellectual discourse is the ability of participants to collect, analyse and apply information; South Africa’s challenge with a youth constituency that is disadvantaged in the above fields creates a perfect environment for further polarisation. The cardinal points for generating youth debate as represented by Kallie Kriel, Julius Malema and to an extent the generationally impatient Lindiwe Mazibuko does not present us with better options to can imagine our future based on our current memories.
Assuming the 2009 Aids statistics and the general mortality rate in South Africa is correct, the country is facing the prospect of a young adult population with no institutional memory for a number of nation building aspects. The emergence and growth of single parented households, ‘absentee father’ parented households as well as child headed households provides currency to the continuing destruction of generational handover practices that have shaped most developed democracies of the world.
The ANC is thus faced with what would undoubtedly be its watershed conference since its formation. As the liberation movement will be celebrating its centenary, it will do so under a cloud of muted calls for its modernisation without ditching its character as an anti-colonial force. Included in its bouquet of realities is the challenge of re-educating its future leaders who are undeniably suffering from a chronic deficit in relation to understanding what the ANC and state formation is all about. Calls for CODESA 3 are thus appropriate; and these should be conducted during the ANC’s and South Africa’s nationalist centenary year, 2012. The space for electoral conferences should be an outcome of such a process thus obliging the ANC as the nexus of current political life to approach its leadership contests understanding its role in society.
Dr FM Lucky Mathebula
Research Fellow: Centre for African Studies UOFS
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