Through the Eye of the Needle, and Our Times

Godfrey Nkosi writes for us

It is one of those sleepless nights when the mind refuses to rest. The hours are consumed by reflection on matters that trouble the organisation, and perhaps that is the very reason for the lack of sleep. In the quiet of such moments, one cannot help but return to the ANC’s seminal discussion document, Through the Eye of the Needle?

When the ANC published this document in 2001, it was not written for decoration. It was born out of anxiety within the movement itself, a recognition that the transition from opposition to incumbency brought grave temptations. The ANC had entered government, commanded state resources, and faced the dangers the liberation movement had always warned about. Leadership contests were becoming intense, money was beginning to find its way into lobbying, and patronage networks threatened to erode the movement’s integrity. At the heart of this was a call for humility and sacrifice in leadership, a reminder that to lead was not to gain power, but to serve.

The document reminded members that leadership in the ANC was not an entitlement or a ticket to status. To become a leader was to carry a burden of service, be held to a higher standard, and embody values that inspired trust among our people. It emphasised that leaders must be above reproach, fight corruption, and be accountable to the collective. Political education was highlighted as the movement’s immune system. It was a sober attempt to ring alarm bells and guide the ANC through the incumbency challenges.

Two decades later, those warnings read less like advice and more like prophecy. The behaviour of many in our ranks, including leaders at the highest levels, points not to a movement that has mastered the burden of incumbency but one that has allowed the very tendencies the document condemned to thrive. When we read about criminal networks finding safe harbour within state institutions and watch the proceedings of the Madlanga Commission exposing how syndicates have intersected with police and political authority, we cannot pretend to be surprised. Through the Eye of the Needle foresaw exactly this collapse of ethical leadership and discipline. The urgency of the situation cannot be overstated.

We live in a time when being a leader is too often treated as a career, not a calling. Slates and money politics, which the Polokwane Conference 2007 admitted and needed urgent review, are now routine. Gatekeeping and patronage at the local level are no longer whispered about but openly fought over. Instead of accountability to collectives, we see the rise of personal fiefdoms. Instead of humility and service, we see entitlement and arrogance.

The truth is that our movement has passed through the Eye of the Needle. We cite it in passing at conferences and place it on renewal banners, yet fail to live by it. The document demanded that leaders have track records of service that communities appreciate. Today, the track record that matters most is who one is aligned with, what slate one is on, or what resources one can command. The document called for political education to anchor values and discipline. Today, we rely on commissions of inquiry to tell us what we already know about ourselves. The consequences of this failure are dire, as it erodes our people’s trust and undermines our organisation’s very fabric. The impact of this erosion of confidence on the South African citizens is profound, as it undermines the fabric of our democracy and the promise of a better future.

When the document turned twenty years old in 2021, the movement did not mark the occasion with reflective opinion pieces. We celebrated other anniversaries and achievements, but could not bring ourselves to reflect on this. We were too ashamed to do so, because we knew that touching this document would turn us into ashes. Its words were too close to the bone. They reminded us of what we had failed to become. They reminded us that the leadership culture we were living out was the opposite of what we had committed to in 2001. Our silence was itself a confession. We need to reflect deeply on our actions and decisions.

One of the most glaring examples of this contradiction is the debate about accountability in the face of corruption. For years, comrades charged with crimes insisted they had the right to stay in office until the courts pronounced their guilt or innocence. This argument reduced the ANC’s ethical standards to the minimum bar of the legal system. Yet the ANC corrected this path by adopting the step-aside resolution, which compels those charged with corruption or serious crimes to step down from leadership positions. It is no longer a matter of choice. The rule was designed to protect the organisation’s integrity and reaffirm that ANC leaders must be above reproach. However, the uneven implementation of this rule, its selective resistance, and the factional fights it has sparked demonstrate how far we are from the ethical leadership standard envisaged in Through the Eye of the Needle. Instead of strengthening our culture of accountability, the rule has exposed just how fragile that culture has become.

At the national level, the Madlanga Commission has placed the intertwining of politics, policing, and organised crime in public view. That such a commission is necessary shows how far we have strayed from the standards we once set for ourselves. The ANC should have been the first to police itself, to prevent any suggestion that our name could be associated with criminality. Instead, we now sit in front of commissions as respondents and spectators, rather than as the vanguard cleansing itself from within. Our role in leading the fight against corruption and organised crime is crucial, and our failure to do so has significant implications for the country’s political landscape.

This raises a painful truth: the tragedy of the ANC is not that it did not know the dangers of incumbency. It is what we learned, diagnosed them, debated them, and wrote about them in our own documents. We crafted a clear organisational immune system in Through the Eye of the Needle. The tragedy is that we chose not to act, acted too late, or applied rules selectively. However, it’s not too late to change. We must learn from our past mistakes, commit to a renewed leadership culture, and strive to live up to the values and principles we set for ourselves in 2001.

There is still a way forward. Renewal cannot be found in writing new documents, but in finally living according to the one we already have. That means refusing to nominate or elect leaders whose conduct and records are inconsistent with our values, regardless of their factional strength. It means enforcing the step-aside rule consistently, without fear or favour, not as a weapon in internal battles but as an expression of the organisation’s integrity. It also means sustaining the revival of political education, which has returned in the form of the OR Tambo School and other initiatives. But we must monitor its reach and its effectiveness. It is not enough that courses exist on paper or cadres attend as a formality. Political education must once again shape character, sharpen ethics, and build the discipline that Through the Eye of the Needle envisaged. Returning to our core values and principles is the key to achieving ethical leadership and organisational renewal in the current political climate.

The document told us that becoming a leader in the ANC is not an entitlement. It is a privilege earned through service, sacrifice, and humility. If we continue as we are, mocking its principles with our conduct, then we must accept that history will judge us harshly. The people of South Africa will judge us even more harshly. The dangers are the decline of electoral support and the corrosion of the ANC’s moral authority, which is the one asset that allowed us to lead society even in the darkest times.

The ANC was once a school of values and discipline, where leaders emerged not because of the positions they sought but because of the trust they commanded. Through the Eye of the Needle was a reminder of that heritage. If we want to renew the ANC in 2025 and beyond, we must return to those principles and apply them without compromise. Only then can we confidently say that we are a movement of service, a movement of integrity, and a movement that leads by example.

The eye of the needle is narrow, and perhaps that was always the point. To pass through it requires humility, discipline, and sacrifice. If we do not live by that standard, we should stop quoting the document, because we would only be mocking ourselves.