It was at the meeting of the African National Congress’s national executive committee (NEC) in August that the erosion of pluralism in the upper echelons of the organisation became patently clear.
At issue was a call for the resignation of the South African Communist Party deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin from the NEC for his ”negative” remarks on the ANC in an interview to Irish academic Helena Sheehan, which was never meant for publication.
NEC member Dumisani Makhaye was among the first to demand Cronin’s resignation. Cronin is believed to have offered to resign, when Deputy President Jacob Zuma intervened to say that the issue was beyond Cronin as an individual and the unity of the alliance was at stake.
That same week President Thabo Mbeki wrote in his weekly column in the party’s online publication, ANC Today: ”No member of the NEC is elected to oppose the movement and any of its organs.”
He also wrote: ”… in the event that such persons feel they have irreconcilable differences with the organisation, they have an obligation to resign and then act as outside critics and opponents. On the other hand, all members of the NEC, like other members of the ANC, have an obligation to intervene within the structures of our movement to correct whatever they feel might be going wrong.”
Mbeki concluded: ”All our members must take the results of the recent meeting of the NEC to heart, that it makes no sense for genuine and loyal members of our organisation to do the work of our opponents within our ranks.”
That remark, for many in the senior ranks of the ANC, was the culmination of five years during which the culture of open debate within the party had gradually been reduced.
It is widely felt that the NEC elected at the 1997 Mafikeng conference has had little regard for pluralism — a tradition that had held the broad church of the ANC together over decades.
Few in the NEC like to be seen as opposing the Mbeki inner circle, for they fear they would immediately be labelled as potential oppoents to the president. And there are others — mostly ministers — who merely wish to survive and prefer to maintain silence, say ANC members.
Perceived threats and plots to undermine the Mbeki-led government have surfaced with alarming frequency in the NEC and have overshadowed its functioning and duties for the last two years.
Some ANC members feel it was only to be expected as the party’s national conference to be held in Stellenbosch from December 16 to 20 drew closer and potential contenders had to be dealt with.
While Mbeki himself initially did not directly act to stifle dissent, there developed a group around him who saw it as their task to protect ”the chief”.
Makhaye, MP Tony Yengeni and ANC Youth League president Malusi Gigaba have been cited as the more prominent members of this clique.
Senior ANC members call the clique Mbeki’s ”praise singers”, who have constantly fanned paranoia in the NEC.
But then last year Mbeki took a more active part in dealing with dissenters within the ANC. Stung by incessant criticism of his Aids policy and the government’s privatisation programme, Mbeki began to turn the screws on internal critics –mostly ANC leaders who also held senior positions in the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the SACP.
The concerted assault on the left began in earnest at an NEC meeting in March last year. Mbeki is believed to have spoken about ”enemies within” the movement. Several members of the NEC spoke about ”elements” within and outside the movement who were working to ensure that Mbeki served one term only.
MP Pallo Jordan was reportedly the only NEC member to challenge Mbeki’s claims. Citing ex-presidents James Moroka and Alfred Xuma, Jordan said ANC leaders had only been removed to strengthen, not weaken, the movement.
The NEC also developed a tendency to close ranks around the ”chief”, even when his stand on issues was questionable. Public criticism of the government’s handling of HIV/Aids and Zimbabwe were labelled a First World attempt to discredit him and blacks in general.
Divisions over HIV/Aids policy preoccupied the NEC, some of whose members apparently pressed former president Nelson Mandela to intervene.
To counter this threat, the infamous ”Castro Hlongwane” document, emphasising the toxicity of anti-retrovirals, was circulated before the NEC meeting in March this year. The late Peter Mokaba played a key role in promoting it. According to senior ANC members, Mandela was abused by the praise singers in that NEC meeting.
But behind-the-scenes lobbying of the presidency both in Luthuli House and the Union Buildings by the ANC’s health committee had left its mark. Government communications chief and policy guru Joel Netshitenzhe is believed to have taken the lead in shifting the stance in the NEC. The extent of the shift was, however, masked by attempts to accommodate the dissidents.
This was to culminate in a Cabinet decision later this year to consider provision of anti-retrovirals to all people with Aids.
This, say ANC leaders, was a sign that it was possible for the NEC and structures to flex their muscle and influence the direction of the party — if only they could overcome their fear of the centre.
However, it was the debate around the question of privatisation that tested the ANC’s tolerance of divergent viewpoints and the unity of the alliance. The view being pushed by Mbeki and his closest supporters is that opposition to the privatisation process — and by implication the government’s economic policies –was treacherous and amounted to undermining the very soul of the ANC. Hence thelabelling of Cosatu and SACP leaders as ultra-leftists, a move which is seen as an attempt to delegitimise them in the eyes of traditional ANC supporters.
With the exception of Zuma, who has played a more conciliatory role, most of the office-bearers have joined the chorus.
But while the war rages, there is a growing belief that the NEC to be elected later this month will show greater freedom of thought than the outgoing structure. Some report a growing concern about the silencing of voices that could add value in national debates and a worry about the implications of a split in the alliance.
Thus optimism has also been buttressed by last month’s meeting of the NEC, where members rejected a proposal that the national office take central control of the party’s Eastern Cape provincial structures.
This, they believe, is a sign that the fear of the centre may begin to recede after the national conference.
Said an ANC leader: ”There is an overwhelming cry for unity across the ANC’s branches — people are sick and tired of all this divisive talk between the ANC and its alliance partners.”
Ironically, it might well be this reaction to attempts by Mbeki’s inner circle to strangle the left that could free up the space for free thinking within the ruling party.