The humidity hits you the moment you emerge from the air-conditioned terminals of King Shaka International Airport.
Durban is hot and sticky, but the mugginess didn’t deter the thousands of party faithful who converged on the city for the ruling party’s mid-term policy review.
Over the weekend, the comrades took over large swaths of the town, from the popular shisanyamas in townships like Umlazi to the trendy beachfront eateries and bars.
By Sunday evening, those delegates with deep enough pockets dressed up in their finest to attend the gala dinner on the eve of the conference.
I have been haunted by the memory of the over-cooked and tasteless lamb shank that was served at the last ANC gala dinner I went to, on the occasion of the January 8 statement in Kimberley earlier this year.
Whoever secured the tender to cater for that event simply boiled the hefty chunks of meat for several hours until it looked white and bland. No salt or spices had been added for flavour. Simplicity does have its appeal, but soggy meat does not qualify as such. I recall that evening ended with a few journalists raiding a steak house for slightly more palatable sustenance.
So it was with trepidation that I attended the gala dinner to mark the beginning of the ANC’s week-long jamboree. It being a fundraising event, I need not have feared. The menu boasted titillating bits like a salmon starter, roast chicken and lamb as the main course and a delectable lemon and mascarpone cheese cake with fresh fruit and coulis as dessert. It all lived up to expectation. But it wasn’t the food that the hundreds of guests came for.
The dinner at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre was a networking event, allowing business leaders to dine with leaders of the ANC, giving them an opportunity to network and curry favour, as it were, with the most influential decision-makers in government.
This influence peddling came at a steep price, with some hoping to chew the ear of President Jacob Zuma and paying up to half a million rands for the pleasure. Business leaders were clearly eager for the opportunity, given the high turnout of guests, with one embarrassed ANC leader whispering to me in exasperation that there had been such demand for places, some guests who’d paid for tables found there wasn’t enough room for them when they arrived.
The entrance of one of Zuma’s wives, Thobeka Madiba, and fiancée MaNgema signalled the president’s arrival. He walked in a few minutes later in the protective embrace of his bodyguards. A large Chinese delegation stood up excitedly, scrambling to catch a glimpse of uMsholozi, who waved and smiled warmly at his guests.
Mining magnate Patrice Motsepe clinched the honour of sitting at the main table at the right-hand side of Zuma. I’m not sure if he got his money’s worth because Zuma disappeared from his seat a few minutes after taking it. The master of ceremonies for the evening, Social Development Minister Edna Molewa, explained that Zuma had to take an urgent call and would return shortly. He disappeared for at least an hour, leaving his guests milling about aimlessly, seemingly at a loss about what to do.
The initially tame and elegant affair threatened to degenerate into an unruly and bawdy bash as the volume of the chattering guests escalated, no doubt as a result of the free-flowing booze. Most people stood up and gathered in small groups, loudly discussing the possible whereabouts of their host.
It turned out that Zuma had a video link-up to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, because he’d declined to attend the meeting as the gathering clashed with the ANC’s own powwow. It’s not clear how many of the high-paying guests waited to hear the president speak. Most of the journalists abandoned dinner to take on the tiresome task of getting accreditation for the conference. This arduous and onerous process took place on the other side of town at the Durban City Hall.
It is always puzzling why the ANC requires people to fill in accreditation application forms weeks in advance, yet repeats the same process on site. Wilting in the humid Durban night, it was almost midnight by the time many of us were able to get our accreditation. But having been fed and plied with drink, we were ready to take on the next five days of observing the ANC as it embarked on its crucial and critical navel-gazing.
One of the main issues the delegates will be chewing over: guarding the character of the ANC so that it doesn’t fall prey to corrupting influences such as business people hoping to influence the party’s policy direction and decision-making for their own narrow ends.