As the ANC approaches its watershed Mangaung Conference it is yet time to reflect on the likely outcome of the all important gathering. For months petty and sometimes childish displays of egos within the party has been dominating the news. The country being now part of the global village these events have and continue to be beamed across the world with such influential networks as ALJAZEERA, SKYNEWS and CNN, with the last two even being declared by local conspiracy theorists as having adopted one of the protagonists in this sorry saga, one Julius Malema,

Apparently Mr. Malema has been adopted particularly by CNN because the public broadcaster, caught in the throes of internal crisis and paralysis and doing the bidding of one or the other faction depending on how positive or negatively they are presumed to have favoured one or the other, has been "instructed" not to provide coverage of Malema.

It is argued in this respect by some media houses and so called "political experts and analysts" that CNN, like Malema during the Marikana massacre, saw a vacuum and took it. Whether or not this is the case in itself is a subject of a long and separate thesis which I choose not to pursue at this stage,

The focus of this piece is, however, how our mothers in all the structures of the ANC, more particularly in the Women's League, may have to be confronted with a historic and revolutionary duty to rescue the glorious ANC - and by extension the country - from the slippery slope on the back of what the character in one of the local soap operas, Generations called our "fragile egos" as man. Like going to church my appearance before a television set has been, over the years, patchy but I distinctly remember a sound clip from the soapie character Ntsiki, played then by Pamela Nomvete in which she dutifully chastises man and their fragile egos.

The battle of the leadership of the ANC since the Mbeki era has, at most times, been dominated by fragile egos and that is continuing as the party approaches Mangaung. Week in week out we (ordinary members of the ANC and the country as a whole) have been bombarded with overwhelming "news" of clashes of egos from Julius Malema, COSATU, SACP and the various internal structures of the ANC. At first the Limpopo PEC played a solitary prominent role with a counter side show presented by the local COSATU and SACP. Recently, if media reports are anything to go by, Gauteng has joined the fray as well as other provinces,

In the course of democratic engagements there is nothing absolutely untoward about the engagements save for the sometimes acerbic, below the belt and insulting utterances that certain ANC and former ANC members throw at their nemesis. That said there is no denying that the party is increasing following a slippery and self destructing path that if left unabated will consume and kill the democratic "miracle" that South Africa is. Most saddening of all is that it is a miracle that the selfsame ANC has fought for decades for,

Those of us in the organization who have been closely monitoring the events knows that none of the present candidates will be able, realistically, to rescue the party from this slippery slope. There are many reasons why but mainly the issues can be conveniently surmised around the issue of ego and self interest.

Fortunately for the ANC and the country there is that other very strong and special group of organisms called our mothers, women. It is this group that, sans their men who were being murdered, maimed, imprisoned and railroaded into exile, marched against the pass laws and sent a clear, decisive and unambiguous message to the then apartheid regime that pushed too far they can take on the system.

During the course of last week I had the privilege of having a brief discussion with one of those women during a professional visit to a state owned parastatal in Limpopo. She reflected nostalgically about how the struggle that she became part of her life and that of her family and had taught her selflessness and service to the broader community. I have heard that before, nothing new there! 

It was what she proposed when I confronted her about what she is going to do or propose about restoring the ANC to that party that she grew up in. Her answer was profound and telling: after a brief analysis of what led the party to its current state, she effortlessly posited that maybe it is time for the women in the organization to stand up and lead because clearly men are either failing or simply preoccupied with self interest at the expense of the party and the country.

A sense of déjà vu hit me as I vividly recalled an impromptu discussion that I had weeks earlier in a hotel in Maputo on the state of the Women's League and the current young women in the leadership structures of the ANC. We reflected on how they seem not to know what their exact role in the ANC is. They also seem to be driven by the desire to belong to one or other faction led by men, when they have every opportunity to rise above these petty politics and help save the organization.

Names were even thrown around of formidable women of character and fortitude who, given a chance, could unite and rescue the organization from the slippery slope that it has taken with men at the helm. The name of Cde. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and others came up and some of us felt strongly that if it meant that she be recalled from her new AU position so be it as we felt the country needed her most at the present juncture.

It is therefore was refreshing when one read a sober, incisive and cogent argument advanced by Mama Cde. Thenjiwe Mtintso, published in some Sunday papers. Reading the article left some of us embarrassed by the systematic but subliminally entrenched patriarchy and chauvinism that has plagued the ANC for years. Those of us who were raised by strong women (I am sure almost all of us were in the ANC and other societal structures) were hit so hard between the eyes by the truth of her reflections. In its 100 years of existence the ANC has NEVER been led by a woman!

History is incapable of erasure so I was quite impressed by her bold assertions. After a precise and scientific diagnosis of the role that women leaders and structures in the organization are playing - and have played in entrenching the current toxic slate politics - she argued that the time has arrived for women to "rescue" the ANC from the clearly self-serving male comrades.

Upon reflection it is clear that the only people, without being understood to mean that the ANC must be divided between genders, who can realistically unite the organization and help it renew itself and forge a way forward are the women. Not only those active in its structures but also those who have chosen not to actively participate but criticize from the sidelines.

The current political "strife" in the organization may represent a golden opportunity for the ANC and the country to actually be honest with itself and tap on the best of humanity to rescue it: the women, our mothers! In fact the more one thinks about it the more the whole thing is clear. The fundamental question that remains therefore is whether the membership of the ANC is capable, including those in positions of power at present, of rising above the prevalent self serving pettiness and let our mothers rescue us from the crisis we find ourselves in.

More crucially are the mbokodos ready and willing to come to the rescue,

Whatever the answer history will judge us on it.

The writer is a member of the ANC in Gauteng, Pretoria East and he writes in his personal capacity.

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