Afro-communists vs Afro-nationalists in the ANC

JOHANNESBURG - As the ruling African National Congress increasingly threatens to polarise into mutually hostile radical left and radical right factions, or opposing Afro-communist and Afro-nationalist camps, an important question arises.

It is simply whether there is a viable third way, not in the sense of a coalescence of indecisive moderates but, rather, in the sense of an energising coalition of South Africans committed to chartering a middle way - to borrow a term from Buddhist philosophy - to the future. The short answer is that there are two possible middle ways.

The first is for centrists in the ANC to assert themselves forcefully and to offer a revived form of the leadership exemplified by Nelson Mandela during the transition from the old South Africa to the new, as well during his five-year term of office as South Africa's first democratically elected president.

The second is for the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) to shed its image as a party of opposition and to succeed in its stated ambition to become a party of government. This through a vigorous campaign to recruit new members from the at least 13 million South Africans of voting age who had either failed to register to vote in the 2009 general election, or who did but - for one reason or another - failed to cast their ballots on April 22.

Before assessing the chances of either of these options succeeding, it is useful to analyse the recent manifestations of the uneasy relations between the rival factions in the ANC.

Following the attack launched on the communists by Billy Masethla, a former director-general of the national intelligence agency and a member of the ANC national executive committee, Julius Malema, the president of the ANC Youth League, pressed for Gwede Mantashe, the ANC secretary general, to resign his position of national chairperson of the South African Communist Party (ASCP) .

Malema's demand - which has been, determinedly resisted by Mantashe - is redolent with suspicion that Mantashe is using his high ranking post in the ANC to promote the aims of the SACP. This reinforces Masethla's accusation that the left is trying to take over the ANC for its own ends. There is an echo in Malema's pressure of Mantashe of the questioning attitude adopted by Peter Mokoba, an earlier ANC Youth League president, towards the arrangement that allows members of the SACP to hold dual membership of the ANC.

It should be noted, too, that Malema has sarcastically referred to Jeremy Cronin, the deputy secretary of the SACP and perhaps its leading theorist, as a "white messiah". This after Cronin sought to tutor the Youth League on the need for it to offer a serious and collectively thought out case for nationalising the mines instead of tried to "make policy on the hoof."

Furthermore Malema has opposed a call by Buti Manamela, his counterpart in the Young Communist League (YCL) for Thabo Mbeki, the former president, to be indicted on charges of genocide for the death of tens of thousands of South Africans from AIDS. The gravamen of the charge being that Mbeki wilfully refused to make anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) available to people living with AIDS.

Malema's rationale for rejecting the call is that the ANC and its alliance partners should not prosecute their own members; a proposition which, if extended to its logical conclusion, could be offered as an excuse not to indict ANC members for, say, embezzlement of public funds or the rape of female comrades by macho ANC men.

In an escalation in the verbal war between the YCL and the ANC Youth League, Manamela has dismissed Malema as a petty bourgeois capitalist who has little or no sympathy for the indigent South Africans who died because ARVs were denied to them during the Mbeki presidency.

But to return the issue of whether the ANC itself can establish a viable middle way between the communists and nationalists: President Jacob Zuma seems an unlikely candidate to rally the centrists against the radicals on at either end of the political spectrum.

He is too indebted to the left for his victory over Mbeki at the ANC's national conference at Polokwane in December 2007. He is moreover inclined to seek approval from his immediate interlocutors, an approach which taints him as a ditherer and which, all too often, loses rather than wins him friends.

Nothing is written in stone, however. Zuma may prove to be capable of rallying the centre to stand firm in defence of constitution and its underlying values of equality and freedom under the law. Though the manner in which he avoided standing trial on charges of corruption can hardly be considered an auspicious portent of his commitment to the rule of law.

Nor, for that matter, can his appointment of Menzi, Simelane as the new national director of public prosecutions (NDPP); bearing in mind that Frene Ginwala - who chaired the inquiry into whether Vusi Pikoli was a fit and proper person to serve as NDPP -chastised Simelane for interfering with the national prosecuting authority's constitutional duty to prosecute without fear, favour of prejudice.

Zuma's leadership style brings to mind the words of W B Yeats about the centre not holding, the best lacking conviction and the worst being "filled with passionate intensity."

The recent 50^th anniversary of the formation of the Progressive Party (PP) in November 1959 is pertinent to the prospects of the DA serving as the nucleus of a coalition of middle way parties powerful enough to withstand the antagonism of the radical parties at the opposition ends of the left right continuum.

The reason why the PP is relevant to the DA is simple: the PP went through several mutations to become the Democratic Party (DP), which, in turn, went though a mutation in 2000 to become the DA. A single line connects the PP to the DA.

The trajectory, which traces the progress of the PP in all its mutations from its formation in 1959 to the establishment of the Democratic Party (DP) in 1989 and the DA in mid -2000, offers some hope to present day leaders and DA.

The PP started its quest to win a place for itself in the old South Africa disastrously. In the 1961 elections, the first after the foundation of the PP, all but one of the 12 parliamentarians who had broken away from the moribund United Party a short while before lost their seats.

Thereafter, however, the PP rose steadily to become the official opposition party in the late 1970s. In the years that followed it played an important role in persuading the white electorate - and, as importantly, the ruling National Party (NP) - of the need for a negotiated settlement based on universal adult suffrage and the equality of all South Africans.

It is no exaggeration to conclude that the NP appropriated DP policy when it presented itself as the party of settlement by releasing Mandela from prison and rescinded the decrees outlawing the ANC, the SACP and the Pan Africanist Congress.

The DP began its campaign in post-apartheid South Africa on an equally disastrous note, winning less than 2% of the vote and a mere 7 seats. Fifteen years later it defines itself as a party of hope, having won more than 16 % of the vote (and 67 seats) in the April 22 general election, as well as emerging as the governing party in the Western Cape.

If the challenge facing the PP in 1959 was to persuade a generally conservative, and fearful, white electorate that the enfranchisement of the black majority was unavoidable if a revolution was to be averted; the challenge facing the DA today is to build on its gains by attracting an increasingly large proportion of the black vote and by forming tactical coalitions with like-minded parties.

It is a tough ask. The DA can, however, take comfort in the description of the ANC by Tony Leon, its immediate past leader, as a "large black United Party."

The actual UP is remembered as a party which sought to appease diametrically opposing interests and which eventually collapsed under the weight of its own contradictions, losing phalanxes of members and representatives to the Progressives through the 1970s. The establishment of the Congress of the People by ANC dissidents late last year may be a sign of the ANC succumbing to the same process of inner decay and creeping decrepitude.

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President Jacob Zuma seems an unlikely candidate to rally the centrists against the radicals on at either end of the political spectrum. He is too indebted to the left for his victory over Mbeki at the ANC's national conference at Polokwane in December 2007. He is moreover inclined to seek approval from his immediate interlocutors, an approach which taints him as a ditherer and which, all too often, loses rather than wins him friends."

Patrick Laurence

 

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responses to this article

watch the fallout The demise of the ANC is inevitable given the profound stupidity of some of the protagonists. This demise is no bad thing, but what should concern us all is the collateral damage that will result during the process of collapse. Many of the so-called . .more leaders within ruling structures lack the political and intellectual acumen needed to alert them to the dangers of their actions. They will pull the house down on their own heads (and ours) . .less by critic on November 27 2009, 06:14 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Lucy in the sky with diamonds The ANC is the substance of South African political life. The ANC is, has always been, and will always be, a unity and struggle of opposites. Patrick Laurence's problem and that of the DA in general is that they are not a term in the ANC . .more equation, and will never be. All Patrick Laurence's scenarios are wishful dreams that will never materialise. The DA is not even in the stadium, let alone on the field. The DA is out of it, watching on TV. The best they could do is to make some intelligent observations. Unfortunately their blue-tinted spectacles and fantastic hallucinations prevent them from making even that small contribution to SA political life. They signify nothing. . .less by Domza on November 27 2009, 06:50 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Blind support is actually stupidity Blind support of the ANC in reality is ignorance and stupidity. Its clear now that the ANC has fractured to the extent that they cannot effectively rule this country. Why not the DA? look at their success in the areas they have ruled. The fact is, . .more they deliver. . .less by @Domza on November 27 2009, 07:23 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

DA's role What happened 50 years ago is that a number of politicians from all race groups got gatvol with race politics, power-broking politics and obfuscation and set off to build a party based on their belief in values such as human rights, the rule of law and . .more non-racialism, combined with a patriotic love of South Africa with all its inhabitants Throughout its many mutations, the Progs/DA have clung to these beliefs as stubbonly as religious martyrs. They have had to put up with siren calls to join the dominant party and change it from within and jibes that they will always be a majority. Domza joins a list that includes Paul Sauer, "Tricky Pik" Botha, Gideon Jacobs, the Kebbles and Kortbroek van Schalkwyk; hardly inspirational to those who want the best for their country. That tiny acorn at first took root only amongst those who were used to taking long-term, strategic views, whether derided as the mink & manure or opulent leafy suburbs, as well as young people (at a biological stage of searching for own identities and values as they prepare to leave the nest); without a strong value-set the party could not have survive. Today, as its truths become more and more self-evident, that acorn has become a sapling with the potential to be a mighty oak, sheltering the country and all who live in it. . .less by DA truth - 1 on November 27 2009, 07:37 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

ANC's role Leon's seeing the ANC as a "black UP" resonates, it is more useful to see it as a black Nat Party. Apart from policies of racist national socialism & economic ethnic cleansing, the ANC is like the Nats in a more relevant way: Both parties were . .more vehicles for their people's liberation (let's not forget that Afrikaners had been dispossessed of "their" land by colonial imperialists as much as blacks). Having achieved "liberation" (the Afrikaner by the 1948 elections & 1961 republic) the Nat party lost its cause and only kept going through sentiment, patronage & playing the language race card. The left-behind Afrikaans underclass defected to the HNP; the intellectuals and ideologues, ignored in favour of realpolitiek and self-enrichment (ministers had Cadillacs then, not BMWs), spit off into the CP. The Nat rump, having achieved economic (and hence identity) liberation, were thus able to vote for the scrapping of apartheid. Those deluded by "moderation" and clinging to sentiment disappeared into political oblivion. There is no reason to believe the ANC will be different. That is why the same haves/have-nots (class) and ideologue/pragmatist-realpolitik-careerist splits are manifesting. As this unfolds the role of a value-driven party like the DA will become more and more self evident and important - and it will grow accordingly . .less by DA truth 2 on November 27 2009, 08:00 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Domza Wow Domza ! You're showing your fear of the DA by Nic on November 27 2009, 08:04 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

constructive criticism to better our lives ANC will remain with us for quite a long time to come, provided that corrective measures are kept abreast with latest developments. If for instance I tout myself as a future strategic advisor of Julius Malema and the people who discredit me are not from . .more outside the movement, then the ANC is destined to follow on the footsteps of its counterparts such IFP which one of their leaders Mtshali is accused by the members of his own party of holding money instead of spending it and allocating positions mostly to his inner circle as if they would rule the KZN province forever. In the current circumstances where we are living in a tainted environment sycophancy is not answer, there is no way our government will be able to better our lives if we are not constructively critical of it. The shenanigans and corruption that I normally refer to which we read about in the media on a daily basis are a cause for concern. When Jacob Zuma took over, things were not ok and they are still not ok. . .less by King Zwakala on November 27 2009, 08:26 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

No fear Just gatvol with silly journalists sawing away at the same old tuneless fiddle for so many years, and in the case of Patrick Laurence, for decades. You'd think the guy would get fed up with himself. I like the image of the oak tree: an exotic . .more species that grows impressively in South Africa, if given a clear separation from other species and buildings. Yes, the DA is like a lonely oak tree, standing in some forgotten piece of no-man's land in the platteland beyond the horizon. . .less by Domza on November 27 2009, 08:43 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

damaged petals and then i talk about the rose and its damaged petals by King Zwakala on November 27 2009, 08:48 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Malema will lead the country to Communism and whatever makes him rich The fact that this will bankcrupt the country will not worry him at all. He is just the same as Mugabe and all those other big black african leaders. The opposition - I think they will eliminate them the same way as Mugabe did and continues to do. Zuma is . .more not a player in the scene he is the entertainer the dancer the singer the peacekeeper the promiser but not the leader who makes thwe tought decision to get the country on the right path. Anyway I think the ANC have ruined too much already and they have no idea how to run a country let alone fix one they have broken. Disagree? Then list their successes please. . .less by Failed State on November 27 2009, 09:15 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Patric Laurence Patric let me enlist significant challenges that face the DA for you. I 1. The DA has an appetite for black vote but it is caught up in the politics of white capital which forms the core of its constituency. 2. The DA has not addressed the . .more issues that are pertinent to black voters in its strategy such as how to rectifiy demage done to black people by apartheid. The big issue here Patrick is that for the DA to address that it will have to acknowledge in public that today and in the future if these things are not corrected white people will remain advantage financial and knowledgewise to be the drivers of the economy whilst black people provide cheap labour 3. For this to happen the DA would need to first attract black intellectuals into its uppermost ranks who can raise thorny issues both societal and economic that perpetuate the devide between races. The current black leadership in the DA lack credibility in my view we dont even see these people driving issues and debating publickly. 4. Lastly and very important the DA needs to set the debate by developing policy positions that address issues of their target market, there is no need in pretending and generalising SA is a skewed society thanks to apartheid. So dont scratch the surface get to the substance. . .less by Gambu on November 27 2009, 09:25 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Re: No Fear Still fiddling while Rome burns, Dom? Your melody is as unchanging as anyone elses.... and what's worse, is yours is now out of tune with the reality of what is happening in SA. by libdem on November 27 2009, 09:37 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

us Earlier on I was talking about the rose that grew from the concrete when no one else ever cared. The poet would say: we are the roses. The tainted environment is the concrete. Our inner souls are the damaged petals. And they would not understand why the . .more lumpens (omasaka) would celebrate growth of the rose with damaged petals. The proposed hike of tariff by Eskom is a sign of failed strategic planning. . .less by King Zwakala on November 27 2009, 10:33 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

DA DA is the best party, that cannot be disputed. however, they need to make more effort with the black electorate, they need to shed their 'lily' white image and promote themsleves in a more effective way in areas that are not white, or relatively well off . .more black, nor in the WC. I would really like to see a response from the DA on what they are doing utside of the WC. Perhaps Ms Zille or someone from her office could enlighten us? Domza- your comments smell of fear. i bet you locked yourelf in the room and were trembling when you wrote your comment . .less by Socialist agenda on November 27 2009, 12:39 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Dom It seems that Dominique fences himself as the "poor Blacks" intellectual protector. In reality he is only the (self?) hired mercenary of the hopelessly and terminally corrupt Nomenklatura that is killing us. Please confused being, find a more ethical and . .more less horrendous cause to occupy your wasted life. . .less by Injala Apera on November 27 2009, 13:17 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Socialist Agenda If DA's reports are true, then the DA is governing better than the ANC in certain parts of the country. Since the DA cannot win elections, it will be in its interest to give tips to the ANC of how to improve governance. by King Zwakala on November 27 2009, 13:48 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Wow! It really took that long for Van Zyl Slabbert and other so-called "liberals" to realise parliamentary politics under apartheid were a sham designed to imbue oppression with some semblance of western civilisation! by Jean Racine on November 27 2009, 15:44 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Lets Watch the pigs fly For democracy to flourish in our country, political formation must entrench themselves in local communities. This is simply done co-opting local orgaisations with shared vision as the political party. This is seen on a grand scale by formations in this . .more country which informally and formally align themselves with the ANC. An example worth mention is of the TAC which was forever in conflict with President Mbeki-led ANC but still Achmat profesed eternal loyality to it notwithstanding court actions over the policy direction. Another example is that of some parts of the media industry which endorsed present and previous incumbents whlie at the sametime decrying the our country falling ratings in human development index, infrastructer decay, cronyism, etc. Solidarity, Afriforum, and other formations do fight a gallant fight without parties in parliament aligning themselves with their course. One might argue that it is a narrow Afrikaner national base against transformation but it is a constituency that is always present in the national discourse. Failure of individuals and organisations this simple thruths has succumb our politics into the clutches of the omnipresent ANC and its allies with no say in our country's development. . .less by Pufzen on November 27 2009, 17:06 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Jean Racine No Jean, it didn't take any length of time to see the problem. You see, liberals almost by definition detest rapid change by revolution and civil war, or oppression by might. That's one of the differences between them and ideologues of the Left and Right. . .more They generally believe in steady change that will spread opportunities throughout society. They realise that violent change usually results only in a dictatorship of the previously oppressed, so their approach is more likely to be to try and work within the system. In Britain it took centuries for it to play to it's conclusion. Slow, but it worked, while many countries in Europe were having devastating revolutions. It's taken centuries in SA too, but SA is one of the stablest countries in Africa as the liberals finally won with the Constitution. Now you might not like the approach of the "liberals" and of course that's fine, but don't ascribe to liberalism your own ideas of what liberalism is. . .less by Jeff on November 27 2009, 17:17 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Gambu "The DA has an appetite for black vote but it is caught up in the politics of white capital which forms the core of its constituency". The ANC has exactly the same problem. by Jeff on November 27 2009, 17:19 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Gambu Oop, sorry, should have read: "The DA has an appetite for black vote but it is caught up in the politics of white capital which forms the core of its constituency". The ANC has exactly the same problem as far as being caught up in white capital . .more is concerned. It's just that they have a politically illiterate black constituency that keeps them in power. . .less by Jeff on November 27 2009, 17:22 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@king zwakala The ANC interprets and tips and advice as racism from 'Madam Zille' and her 'Garden Boys'. As far as the ANC is concerned, they are doing a fantastic job, without, in my opinion, any real understanding of what they are doing and the long term effects of . .more this. how would it be in the DA's best interests to offer advice? Should they not be seeking to penetrate the broader electorate at the most basic levels? a simple truth is they need to get onboard many more black intellectuals who hold sway and will be able to drive forward the DA's message across the country. Surely the DA would do best to distance itself from the ANC who will only blame any future failings on the input and intereference by the 'imperialists'? . .less by Socialist Agenda on November 27 2009, 17:41 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

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