The last ANC congress in Stellenbosch in 2002 signified a humiliating defeat for the leftists in the congress movement. None of the candidates they nominated for inclusion in the ANC’s national executive committee made the final list.
The stage had been set a few months earlier when ANC president Thabo Mbeki called for the isolation and defeat of the ‘ultra leftists†in the movement.
Now, 15 months before the next ANC congress, in Limpopo next year, the left appears very strong and, at face value, looks likely to determine the outcome of that conference.
Riding on the wave of a strong anti-Mbeki sentiment, the left, represented by Cosatu and the SACP, have shattered the aura of fear and respect long accorded to the ANC president.
It was therefore well overdue for Mbeki to single out SACP secretary general Blade Nzimande for attack, as he finally did on Sunday at the ANC national executive committee meeting at which Mbeki called Nzimande arrogant.
The stocky communist leader has led a sustained onslaught on the ideological orientation of the ANC since 1996, when government started implementing its privatisation policies, and has grown bolder by the day. You cannot finish a discussion with Nzimande without him mentioning the ANC’s national general council (NGC) last year when delegates rebelled against Mbeki and rejected all his proposals to ‘modernise†the party; it was a turning point for the left.
The same NGC delegates called for the reinstatement of Zuma, Mbeki’s nemesis, to the post of ANC deputy president. ‘We are of the firm view that the expressions around Zuma were a reflection of underlying concerns by ANC cadres. Such concerns include that the ANC has stopped being a campaigning party and is not taking up people’s daily issues. The NGC represented a reclaiming of our organisation. Members reclaimed the ANC from a situation where the state was becoming the major terrain of its operations, back to the grassroots branches,†Nzimande told the Mail & Guardian.
Buoyed by that symbolic victory, Nzimande, flanked by Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi and other Cosatu big shots such as teacher union secretary Thulas Nxesi, health workers union secretary Slovo Majola, former mineworkers union secretary Gwede Mantashe, most of the KwaZulu Natal ANC leaders and the ANC Youth League, worked flat out to wrest control of the party from Mbeki and his cohorts. Nzimande and his allies have invested almost all their political capital in Zuma. So far, their engagement has been rewarded with mostly positive returns, with Zuma winning two court cases which had the potential to destroy his career forever and make a laughing stock of Nzimande et al.
Nzimande has addressed every little platform, challenging Mbeki’s dictatorship and influencing mainly workers about how the national democratic revolution should unfold. He has also fought for more respect for the SACP and Cosatu from the ANC leadership and asked for a reversal of what he terms the post-1996 embracing of big capital.
SACP documents released earlier this year sought to demonstrate how the ANC under Mbeki has undermined the original spirit in which the alliance was conceived. Nzimande subsequently complained on the SACP website that the response from the ANC to the SACP discussion documents focused on questioning his bona fides rather than engaging with the argument.
ANC leaders have questioned whether Nzimande is speaking on behalf of the party, suggesting he may be using the party platform to advance his personal viewpoint.
This week Nzimande demonstrated that he enjoys a high level of support within his own party. Six of nine provinces issued public statements attacking Mbeki for personalising issues and reiterating their support for Nzimande. His strongest backers, the Young Communist League, called a press conference to hurl personal insults at the president.
However, in a dramatic blow, the Gauteng SACP has not only invited Mbeki to address their fund-raising dinner, but will also be conferring an award on him ‘in honour of his leadershipâ€. Sources in the SACP say the move is meant to demonstate the province’s independence from Nzimande. It will be the first SACP platform Mbeki has been given at a time when only Zuma has addressed party meetings.
It is instructive to note that when attacking Nzimande at the NEC meeting this week, Mbeki said that the implementation of Nzimande’s ideas could lead to the liquidation of the SACP and the genuine left agenda. It could further result in ‘the destruction of the ANC and the consequent capture of the political power by counter-revolutionary forces’.
A few months earlier Nzimande himself had warned that the power imbalance resulting from a centralised presidency, weak Parliament and undue influence by big capital could result in the objectives of the NDR being systematically undermined.
Nzimande argues that what drives him and the party is an attempt to keep the ANC firmly in the left lane. But he has been unable to shrug off the urban legend that his is a personal crusade, motivated by Mbeki’s refusal to give him a Cabinet post in 1999. He has denied having any such expectations in the past and sees the story as part of an attempt to tarnish his image.
Ten years ago a Mail & Guardian journalist compared Nzimande to a Jack Russell terrier. ‘Both are compact, tenacious, scrappy when provoked, affable once they get to know you, and intensely loyal to those they trust.â€
Mbeki and Zuma may have something to say about his tenacity and loyalty.