Africa-Press – Eswatini. It is now final; the African National Congress (ANC) has lost its majority to form the South African government. It might have garnered over six million votes but still fell short of the fifty percent required by their Constitution to form a government.
One observer was heard jokingly saying that the ANC had experienced vote-shedding as their top politicians never experienced load-shedding. At the ANC Press conference on Sunday morning, the Secretary General of the ANC Mr. Fikile Mbalula admitted defeat.
The reality is that the party of Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela could in the next few weeks, cease to be the ruling party but the opposition party working the back-benching in Parliament. The ANC can learn a lot from The Indian National Congress (INC), a political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on December 28, 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.
The Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement, however more recently, the same Congress won only 44 seats in the Lok Sabha (Indian lower house of Parliament), compared to the 336 of the BJP and the NDA. The UPA led by the Congress party suffered a landslide defeat, which was the party’s worst-ever national electoral performance with its vote share dipping below 20 per cent for the first time. Sonia Gandhi retired as party president in December 2017, having served for a record 19 years. All liberation movements break from within, with fatal internal splits.
The ANC, MK, EFF, Coalition
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called the ANC, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) coalition the doomsday coalition, to the extent that they even burnt the South African flag to depict the seriousness of such a scenario. On the other hand, former President Jacob Zuma believes this is the two-thirds majority coalition that can liberate “Indlu lemyama” translated to mean “The House of the black man”. With Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) or a few smaller, black-dominated political parties, the two-thirds majority needed to change the Constitution becomes a reality.
Two far-left progressive parties, namely the MK and EFF, can aggressively drive the radical economic transformation agenda, which in the eyes of the DA, would be the doomsday scenario for South Africa. The lessons from the Indian National Congress, which was also a liberation movement with a strong father figure Mahatma Gandhi and a broad-church party, should assist the ANC at this time.
The Indian Congress failed to reconcile with its breakaway groups which led to its weakening. The breakaways become much stronger. The difficulties will be the demands that each party will want to impose. The removal of President Ramaposa will be a very hard pill to swallow by the ANC. However, in many Western countries, a loss of 17% would automatically cause the president to acknowledge defeat and resign. The membership would unanimously call for new leadership. Unfortunately in Africa, he will want to stay on and blame a million reasons but himself.
Economic Freedom Fighters
Mr Julius Malema and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) are very much part of the ANC but the ANC could not listen to him. Yes, they represent far-left ideals but they are part of the broad Church called the ANC. The original ANC youth wing is now called EFF and controls all the university SRCs. What is more surprising is the fact that the new ANC youth wing thinks very much like the EFF. They are the future and all that is needed is to find a way to bring them back home. They are no longer children, which means they have to be negotiated like adults. However, we pray that the EFF leadership also tries to compromise and move away from personalities and ultimatums by putting the country first.
uMkhonto We Sizwe
Similarly, the uMkhonto weSizwe is a large group of ANC member who feel the Constitution does not reflect the African way of life and their traditional leaders and cultures. They contend that the Constitution was drowned up by the white colonial masters who had imposed apartheid laws and now had conveniently put in minority rights with property rights to secure land stolen using apartheid laws. It can’t be correct for the ANC to ignore these historical facts just to please the markets and white monopoly capitalists.
ANC and DA Coalition
The Western countries including the United States, UN, UK, European Union, Canada, and Australia would call the ANC /DA Coalition a match made in heaven. The United Nations agencies, including the World Bank, IMF, and all the rating agencies would all clap their hands in the knowledge that they will continue to make billions of dollars at the expense of the poor black Africans. The narrative that free market economies are the best way of taking people out of poverty has been proven wrong. China has taken millions out of poverty. The rich just get richer and create more barriers to entry for citizens who are not born in privilege. The expensive private schools ensure that through the dual educational system, the spaces at the best Universities are reserved for them which also guarantees them the best jobs within the economy after graduation.
Multiparty Charter, MK and EFF
The Multi-Party Charter (MPC), officially the Multi-Party Charter For South Africa (MPCSA), formerly known as the Moonshot Pact, is a pre-election agreement that aims to present a united front in the 2024 general election. The MPC is the brainchild of the DA, which brought together ActionSA, the IFP, Freedom Front Plus, ACDP, and other smaller parties, determined to get 50% +1 collectively.
The smaller parties have failed dismally which means these dreams can only be realized if MK and EFF feel compelled and motivated enough to through their historic parental home the ANC under the bus. This would simply mean joining with their enemy to take ANC out of power. This match will not be made in heaven and negotiations would be extremely difficult and would cost President Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema and their respective Political parties a great deal of personal respect and trust depending on what they would be able to get out of it.
Source: TIMES
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