As the bell summons delegates to the Polokwane rendezvous, is the ANC inspiring confidence as a leader capable of taking the country into a new age?
This question assumes currency not only because we are dealing with South Africa’s strongest political party. Supporter, critic and opponent alike concur that, historically, by ably advancing the synthesis of a common humanity, the ANC has been the glue that has held this country together. In the place of white racism, it eschewed vengeance and propagated non-racialism. In the place of tempting elitism, it placed the needs of the poor at the top of its agenda. In the place of patriarchy, the ANC evolved to embrace gender equality.
This rational approach placed the movement in an unassailable position as the embodiment of an ideal that could only triumph. Such is how it came to occupy the moral high ground. The commitment of its leadership to these ideals, and their day-to-day political conduct, completed the circle of the aura that the ANC came to assume.
Is this the stuff of history, of a golden age gone by? Will Polokwane confirm a historic mission, or will it cast the spell of ordinariness on what has been an extraordinary movement in an extraordinary undertaking?
The question is not whether there are mistakes in what the ANC says and does. In the management of social change mistakes are inevitable. Rather it is about overall balance and an internal capacity for self-correction.
Tomes have been written about the progress since 1994: democracy and a culture of human rights, improvements in the social conditions of especially the poor, growth of the economy, the role that South Africa is playing on the continent and further afield, and so on. There will be differences about magnitude and whether more could have been done. But there can be little doubt about the qualitative change in South Africans’ lives.
Yet in the midst of this, some unsavoury incidents have occasioned the refrain: ”But they are just politicians!” These include convictions of some senior ANC members for corruption, the current murder case involving leaders in the Govan Mbeki municipality in Mpumalanga, the comedy of an MEC who sought reinstatement from the courts, and the tragedy of imagined conspiracies and counter-conspiracies reflecting political ambition gone mad.
Are these the manifestations of a movement that has lost its way, of a colossus in self-destruct mode? Is the glue thinning out, with dire consequences for the nation as a whole?
The success of the project of change, and the integrity of the ANC as a leader of that change, cannot be assumed. The objective of the national democratic revolution ‒ a national democratic society — will not be a natural consequence of market forces or a mere wish to succeed. It has to be consciously constructed.
In all historical undertakings of this kind, there is that one subjective precondition without which the effort simply dissipates. This is the existence of a corps of cadres who are able to withstand the pull of negative energy and stay the course. Many systems with great ideals bit the dust in large measure because the ideal proved a bridge too far for those who had the privilege of stewardship.
The Polokwane conference cannot avoid interrogating this question, not so much to find angels with revolutionary halos, for such creatures do not exist. But more to ensure that the sinners are committed enough to keep on trying.
In the words of the draft strategy and tactics document: ”The ANC is faced with two options: either to act as a party of the present, an electoral machine blinded by short-term interest, satisfied with current social reality and merely giving stewardship to its sustenance. Or it can become a party of the future, using political power and harnessing the organisational and intellectual resources of society to attain the vision of a national democratic society.”
The document argues that, to navigate the minefield of political office, the ANC should give strategic leadership to its cadres deployed in various terrains; develop monitoring and evaluation capacity; ensure information-sharing and accountability by the deployees; and handle the transforming state as an organ of the people as a whole rather than a party-political instrument.
In addition to the draft strategy and tactics, many resolutions and the comprehensive organisational review process propose specific steps to ensure that the movement strengthens its political and organisational integrity, implements programmes that will take the country to a higher development trajectory, and builds a cadre to meet these challenges.
But to what end? What should be the broad vision that inspires the ANC and the nation at large?
This is defined in what the strategy and tactics document characterises as a national democratic society. Broadly informed by the ideals of the Freedom Charter, such a society — which we have not yet attained — includes thoroughgoing democracy, a thriving economy that benefits all, social policies that pay attention to the most vulnerable, and the values of human solidarity and internationalism.
Running like a golden thread through the articulation of these ideals is the concept of human civilisation, along the lines of what former ANC president Chief Albert Luthuli said when he received the Nobel Peace Prize: ”Somewhere ahead there beckons a civilisation which will take its place in God’s history with other great human syntheses: Chinese, Egyptian, Jewish, European. It will not necessarily be all black, but it will be African.” And along the lines of Steve Biko’s assertion in I Write What I Like: ”The great powers of the world may have done wonders in giving the world an industrial and military look, but the great gift still has to come from Africa — giving the world a more human face.”
In this context, the draft strategy and tactics document defines human civilisation in terms of two attributes: how collectively we adapt and preserve nature to improve our comfort through modern technology; and what kind of socio-political relations we put in place to ensure human solidarity.
Failure to internalise this challenge stymies South African intellectual and political discourse. It detracts from what should be a single-minded determination to lead society in shaping, adapting and directing modernity in pursuit of our revolution. As a result, we still have to find positive rather than negative (non-)descriptions of our ideals: ”non-racial”, ”non-sexist” and so on.
Can we emulate the great nations of Asia, today marching into the future inspired by the impulse to be at the cutting edge of human endeavour? Do we, like these nations, sufficiently acknowledge the historical contribution our own continent has made to human development? Are we, like them, courageous enough to critique our own weaknesses of the interregnum — when we lagged behind — the better today to draw from and adapt the best in technology that humanity has fashioned?
With more than a decade of experience in governance, Polokwane is a rare opportunity for the ANC to strike out along a new road of improved performance. This should be defined in a broad vision as well as detailed resolutions on the catalytic things that will firmly place South Africa on a higher trajectory of development with a new sense of mission and identity.
Should the civilisation and the human face that Luthuli and Biko respectively alluded to include matters of etiquette in leadership contestation? Or is this a pipe dream that ignores the ”fact” that leadership contestation in politics will not be much different from exhilarating catfights?
Whatever the case may be, what is certain is that trench warfare that ignores basic principles of right and wrong, and qualities that should attach to leadership, will not help the movement meet its objectives. Nor will ”electoral fundamentalism” that seeks to obliterate legitimate schools of thought within the movement serve the ANC’s long-term interests.
And when decisions have been taken, each ANC member will have to accept that leadership positions are few and cadres many, and therefore individuals do not have to occupy senior public offices to make a contribution corresponding to their capacity.
Polokwane will make for an exciting conference. Central to its tasks will be to ensure that the movement does not miss the nation’s heartbeat and march out of step with a historical process that yearns for inspired leadership.
Joel Netshitenzhe is a member of the ANC national executive committee and national working committee, and heads the party’s political education subcommittee