To the naked and innocent eye, the logic of the ANC's appeals on a
debt collection issue puts the ANC in gross disrepute. It puts into question
the calibre of leadership, especially the financial management capability, past
and present, of the ANC on trial in a court of public opinion. As the ANC tries
to explain the real issues, and it has not done well, it is simultaneously
losing the information war. It is doubtful if there is an awareness that
this might be a battle where media interest is not in the facts of the case.
The known facts are that
the ANC received a service from the complainant, the service provider raised an
invoice, and the ANC has not honoured the invoice. The service provider
exhausted all avenues to get paid, and getting a court order was the only way
its claim could be legitimate. What is unclear in the public space is why
the ANC would go to such lengths to appeal the judgements on this matter
instead of paying. The belief in the correctness or winnability of the case by
the ANC is so strong that it even has a dimension they believe the
Constitutional Court can come to a different decision. This is notwithstanding
the associated reputational costs in a consequential election year.
Without
sounding conspiratorial in this rendition, indeed, the ANC is currently the
power everyone wants to be seen speaking truth to. It holds the ultimate prize in
politics: State Power. It sits at the policy centre of the distribution prowess
of government for the three trillion rands public sector spending budget. Any
dysfunction within the ANC will always be an opportunity to deploy resources to
win the broader war for political power in South Africa.
Modern
political battles are fought and decided by how adversaries shape the narrative
about each other in a court of public opinion. The information space has become
more important than the correctness of the facts, especially their
interpretation thereof. Impugning the credibility or reputation of a political
adversary has been included as one of the 'soft war' strategies to weaken an adversary.
This is acutely worse in a democracy where the adversary commands a historical
moral high ground.
In
contexts where political power contestation favours adversaries with a past legitimising
their claim to political power, their reputation as incumbents is what is
available to erode their political support. Investment by adversaries in the
'soft power' of narratives has become a critical science of winning wars,
including electoral contests. This explains why modern armies have prioritised
cognitive battles. The centre of their planning is more about the legitimacy of
victory than the substantive issues related to those who will lose the battle.
This has led armies to invest in command structures in the information
operational environment.
The
extent to which information about an adversary is weaponised is as important as
causing the loss of key personnel. In the context that the ANC finds itself, it
will be how its adversaries succeed in the management of perceptions society
has about the ANC, which might be decisive in the next election. Having
embraced the accused number one position amongst those in the dock for
corruption, any detail that can add to the barrage of information eating on the
ANC’s reputation becomes important relative to the date of elections.
Emerging
from a reputation tormenting commission of inquiry into State Capture, how the
ANC frames its response to matters has become important to celebrity journalism
and populist political adversaries. The burden of bigness and accountability
demands of being the governing party has put a demand for communication
sophistication the ANC does not seem to be commanding. Falsehoods, and
sometimes truth, move quickly in the cyber world where any response is either
late or blocked from reaching micro-cyber societies governed by followership
owners.
A
torrent of information on the 'failure of the ANC' to honour its debt
obligations, true or false, has now flooded the same social media platforms
where the fastest search on state capture and corruption puts a South African
story on the top ten search outcomes. Social media algorithm design has South Africa's
leading corruption narratives, which is global. Given the outrage on state
capture narratives and the concretising view that there is no consequence
management, the ANC debt might repudiate whatever reputational gains it made in
the aftermath of a punishing Zondo Commission Report.
Combatants
in a narrative war can be ruthless. With data analytics advancements, their
audience targeting precision, which is measurable and available in the market,
has emboldened them to believe they can switch public perception at selected
moments. The more information, true or false, they have to invalidate an
adversary, the better it is for them to win the hearts and minds of those
outraged by South Africa's leadership dysfunction. That the ANC is cooperating
with the demands of the rule of law is unimportant for the current objectives
of the narrative.
The evidence of political party funding in South Africa should be enough to show the ANC that it does not enjoy the endearment of its financially resourced elites. As one scholar once put it, "The ANC represents the repudiation of white supremacy or whiteness. No other political movement has placed the issue of racism on the global agenda than the ANC. Its conception of apartheid and colonialism of a special type challenges even its allies who still have worse than apartheid practices on ethnic groups in their sovereign jurisdictions." Thus, it will be prudent for the ANC to subject its responses to an analysis context that carries along its reality.
Notwithstanding,
the ANC should demonstrate that this debt issue is not an irresponsibility of
management. This episode is embarrassing unless new and credible information
comes to the fore. If the ANC can ask its members to donate a minimum of R10,
it might get relief from its resources. Why they don't do it is a
spiritual question. CUT!!
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