‘We need a strategy to heal’

With little more than a week to go before the ANC conference, the cleft in the party appears to be deepening and sniping between factions more acrimonious and personal. After interviews with party ‘elders’ last week, the Mail & Guardian asked four more senior leaders to reflect on the state of the ANC and its clouded future.

Thenjiwe Mtintso: Ambassador to Cuba and NEC member

The question should not be what will happen at Polokwane but what happens on our way there. Conferences on their own do not resolve problems. If you go to a conference disjointed, you can’t expect a wonderful outcome.

The first challenge for me is to make sure we don’t lose sight of the ANC’s strategic objectives; of what it stands for. Unfortunately, the leadership struggle has diverted us from the real challenges of transformation — poverty and jobless economic growth.

We’re now in the middle of the 16 Days of Activism against Women Abuse, but we’re not paying attention to it. Our action in this area is muted.

Our anger that the ANC has nominated only male leaders has distracted us.

As we make our preferences about who should lead the ANC, we should tone down the things we say about each other, because even after Polokwane we’ll need to work together as ANC comrades.

I know democracy should prevail, but I feel strongly that we should find one another before Polokwane and negotiate this leadership issue. We need a strategy to heal the party. We’re hurting and we’re bruised. The problem now is that we’ve painted ourselves into corners with lists.

For the first time people are singing “sodibana elimpopo [we’ll meet in Limpopo]” in a manner that seeks to threaten other ANC candidates. The conference has become a threat where people fear that they’ll be sorted out, instead of a parliament of members.

I feel we can still take corrective measures before the conference. I’ve been saying we should have a woman president and I stand by that. It’s wrong for the ANC in 2007 not to have a woman in the presidency.

Despite the Women’s League not winning the debate, we can still have a nomination from the floor. Even at this stage nothing stops the two men from saying: we’re stepping aside. It will not be a judgement on their character or a weakness on their part but them saying we need a fresh outlook.

Whoever emerges the winner has a responsibility to the entire membership and the country, not just to supporters. The person will have to extend a helping hand to those who are bruised and traumatised. These days in the ANC we have hangers-on who believe that by shouting loudest they deserve something. There’s no such thing as payback in the ANC.

After the conference we need an indaba that will talk about the policies and programmes of the organisation. The atmosphere at the conference might not be conducive to this. The bosberaad might also enable us to recommit ourselves to the ANC’s ideals.

In Umkhonto weSizwe we used to take an oath. Maybe we need another to reassert our revolutionary commitment and responsibility, and to say that as ANC leaders and cadres we may have committed errors of judgement and moved away from our values.

What the other elders said