In June 2005, two days before the ANC’s National General Council (NGC), ANC deputy secretary Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele insisted to a sceptical media: ‘The NGC will not discuss the Zuma issue.†The matter was not on the agenda.
It is now a fact of history that the NGC became the ultimate platform for ANC Deputy President Jacob Zuma, with delegates venting their anger over how ANC leadership had treated the ANC deputy president, diverting discussion from other crucial policy issues.
This week the ANC declared that a report dealing with controversial emails and rifts in the party had no standing in ANC structures. The statement by the national executive committee (NEC) went on to say ‘it considered the matter closedâ€. But is it?
The NEC statement has sent a message to those still harbouring reservations about the handling of the Stuart commission’s investigation and about a political climate that rules out dissent.
The saga is the latest manifestation of the fierce leadership contest between Zuma and President Thabo Mbeki. Coming hard on the heels of the Mbeki lobby’s victory in the Eastern Cape provincial leadership contest late last year, the scoreline now reads: Mbeki 2, Zuma 0.
Is this a half-time or full-time score? Will the defeated lobby fold its arms and not seek to use other party platforms to reopen the matter?
Strictly speaking, the ANC’s upcoming policy conference in June will stick to policy issues. But, given the NGC experience, it is not out of the question that it might become the next platform for Zuma-ites to re-open debate.
Why should anyone want to resurrect the matter? An ANC leader warned this week that the suppression of the report would only raise eyebrows and make people ask: ‘What are they sweeping under the carpet?â€
Fuelling scepticism may be the knowledge that the report contains harsh words about Mbeki’s leadership.
NEC members who moved for the dismissal of the report at last week’s NEC meeting reportedly concede that Mbeki’s leadership is criticised, but that the report says nothing new. Mbeki himself objected to the report.
The more fundamental objection was the flawed investigation process, including the fact that former National Intelligence Agency chief Billy Masetlha was allowed to question witnesses, while a mysterious IT expert, ‘Mr Xâ€, was allowed to hack illegally into the Scorpions’ mail system to demonstrate how easy it was to do.
The defeated NEC lobby regards these as technical objections which do not deal with the substance of the report. They feel the NEC was wrong to overlook more substantial aspects of the document, including its observation that under Mbeki the ANC has fallen apart.
They see the rejection as a missed opportunity to interrogate the party’s malaise.
It is easy to see how the report could become a rallying point for Mbeki’s enemies. Worse, it could become the subject of embellishment and manipulation which would be hard to refute. Mbeki and other leaders face the dilemma of how to demystify the report without revealing its contents.
Mbeki’s critics — mostly members of the SACP and Cosatu — are probably hard at work trying to regain ground lost since the NGC. Convinced that the NEC is packed with government appointees loyal to Mbeki, they see the broader forum of the policy conference as a more balanced platform from which to tackle him. The suppressin of the report is grist to their mill.
They have less than three months to change the party’s policy orientation and win the hearts and minds of delegates. Mbeki and his so-called ‘1996 class project†are on a roll.
If the left fails to win the policy debates, it may as well throw in the towel. Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi said the plan is to swell the ranks of the ANC and restore its left-wing, pro-working class bias.
The game’s not over — but the ball is in their court.