Africa-Press – South-Africa. Perhaps this leadership may be the alchemy for the ANC’s elixir. It is a far cry from the motley crew based on the illusion of unity its 54th elective conference in 2017 gave, writes Mashupye Maserumule.
As the governing party has now decided on its new leadership, is the nation’s angst easing up?
I am asking this question because, in the build-up to the ANC’s 55th elective conference, jostling for the leadership of the party has been internecine, with some who have thrown their hats in the ring pursuing their ambitions in a way which had all the hallmarks of being at all costs, including for reasons of avarice. And this was odd, especially as the country is in a parlous state, where society looks for leadership not squabbles in the governing party.
In many ways, the contest for the leadership has been about elbowing each other instead of forging ideation for the plurality of policy choices to advance society. This should be beckoning to our conscience, to paraphrase American writer Isaac Asimov, to remove completely “the cult of ignorance” in our midst, including “the strain of anti-intellectualism (which) has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion …that one’s ignorance is just as good as other’s knowledge”.
Proved his mettle
That Cyril Ramaphosa has been retained as the president of the ANC, and, therefore, set to continue as that of the country, gives a glimmer of hope, but his leadership should hit the road running to ease anxieties about the future.
That the market responded positively to his re-election is a good sign of possibilities. Paul Mashatile as his deputy is a pair of hands for Ramaphosa to leverage his presidency strategically. The congruence of their strategic ingenuity and a shared sense of what is at stake for the ANC to assert its historical position as a leader of society is key.
As the deputy president of the ANC, Mashatile is destined to the Union Buildings as Ramaphosa’s second in command in the administration of the state. And, of course, Gwede Mantashe is still the national chairperson of the ANC. Who would want to lead the ANC without Mantashe as his chairperson? Apart from the sobriquet tiger, is he also being called a bull terrier or a pitbull? Either way, all these ascriptions are for a political personality with a maverick streak of not being fazed despite the level at which turbulences are in the party. And this is Mantashe.
He has proved his mettle several times in diffusing party political tensions and is daring in calling out what he considers aberrations in the party despite how sometimes he could himself be in the wrong.
And by the way, does the election of Fikile Mbalula as the secretary-general of the party answer the generational mix question, including that of Maruping Ramokgopa as his second deputy? Perhaps it does.
Yearning for younger leadership
But, wouldn’t it have been more in synch with the hope of particularly the youthful population of this country for Ronald Lamola and Mamoloko Kubayi to have been part of the top seven of the leadership of the party?
Lamola’s support for the position of the deputy president of the ANC was woefully paltry, while Kubayi did not reach the threshold during the nomination process for the same position. Well, this is now water under the bridge, isn’t it? In other words, all we can say is, if horses were wishes, beggars would ride. But, how Lamola and Kubayi fared in the ANC’s leadership contest does not change a yearning for a younger leadership.
The governing party should centre its succession strategy on this. But Mbalula has snatched the crown jewel. His is one of the powerful positions in the leadership of the ANC but requires political maturity, sophistication and upright demeanour. This is because he is now the pulse of the machinery of the party in Luthuli House.
And this comes along with huge expectations.
Will he modernise the membership system of the party, taking the advantage of the opportunities which the technologies of the fourth industrial revolution have created? And, as a former youth league leader himself, can he revive youth activism in the ANC, which has since gone moribund after Julius Malema was dismissed from the ANC?
Malema was the president of its youth league and has since formed his own political party EFF which often gives the ANC a run for its money.
In all this, the big question is, can he ultimately change the electoral fortunes of the ANC, which have been declining consistently for several successive years, including improving the party’s tainted image? The jury is still out. But Mbalula has the political exuberance and the ability to put up a display of razzmatazz on the campaign trails. He may change the ANC’s fortunes if he brings all these to bear adroitly. But, he needs to work on his social media decorum lest lack of it may put off many.
Changing ANC’s financial woes will be tall order
And those who do not read the ANC closely may ask, who is Maruping Ramokgopa? But perhaps this cannot be in the same way many quipped with curiosity when Bejani Chauke’s name came up in the nominations for the treasurer-general of the ANC despite his recondite political personality. He garnered the least votes in the elective conference.
Spokesperson of the ANC, Pule Mabe, who also contested for this came ahead of him in the number of votes, but Gwen Ramokgopa got more to become the first woman treasurer-general in the history of this position.
But to change the ANC’s financial woes is going to be a tall order. Among the reasons for this is the legislation which has introduced a “strict regulatory framework for the private funding of political parties”. As Ramokgopa’s predecessor Mashatile often lamented, funding opportunities for political party funding have dwindled. But, Ramokgopa is hardworking. She may have a way around this.
Along with Nomvula Mokonyane, who was elected as the first deputy secretary-general, Maruping became the second deputy. Her position has just been added to the leadership structure of the ANC at the very conference where she was elected into it. Youngest in the top seven, Maruping caught the eyes of the presidents of the ANC and of the country for deployment to various strategic assignments. Among others, she has been the youngest mayor in this country in 2006 and a head of mission in 2016 in Mumbai, India. This suggests capacity and talent there, set to come in handy for the ANC’s renewal project, which has been bandied about so much to the extent of a political platitude.
Lifeline
As the governing party, the ANC has disappointed many a time, with a plethora of blunders in governing the country, as manifest in surging inequality, unemployment, and poverty. To this, add the energy crisis, the appalling state of state-owned enterprises and local government, where corruption is the cardinal sin. All this hurts society. But, as the American author Robert Schuller puts it, “let hope, not our hurts, shape the future”.
Perhaps this leadership may be the alchemy for the ANC’s elixir. It is a far cry from the motley crew based on the illusion of unity its 54th elective conference in 2017 gave. Ramaphosa’s presidency has now been given a lifeline to turn over a new leaf. It is set for shore up by cohesive leadership.
– Mashupye Maserumule is professor of public affairs at the Tshwane University of Technology and writes in his personal capacity.
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