African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe’s organisational report, delivered on Sunday at the party’s national conference in Polokwane — was the first comprehensive admission from a party leader that the factionalism in the party was a result of a power struggle between two personalities: ANC leader Thabo Mbeki and his deputy, Jacob Zuma.
In the context of these divisions, he questioned the relevance of the tripartite alliance in its current form, criticised the national executive committee for failing to manage the factionalism and appealed to the ANC to return to its founding values as a party of the masses.
”The question that we must answer is: Where is the ANC in all of this?” he asked. ”When elected leaders at the highest level openly engage in factionalist activity, where is the movement that aims to unite the people of South Africa? When money changes hands in the battle for personal power and aggrandisement, where is the movement? When members of the NEC themselves engage in factionalist activity … how can we expect the membership of our movement to carry out their duties?”
In what he described as a ”dire situation”, Motlanthe said: ”It would be to bury our heads in the sand not to suggest that the Mbeki-Zuma template has become a part of the frame of reference.”
He said: ”In the run-up to the 52nd national conference, the process of nomination of candidates has exposed the manifestations of two contending factions within the movement, each of which is ferociously lobbying in support of two lists, one of which is headed by the president (and which excludes the deputy president), while the other is headed by the deputy president (and excludes the president).”
This, he said, has poisoned the party at every level — the relationship between the party branches and the structures of the state; between leaders and members in branches and provinces; and the ideological strength of the party.
”If we are not vigilant, we could easily slide down a dangerous path of least resistance to the bottom of an abyss where the content of our revolutionary tasks is lost in the ferment of opportunistic electoral politics,” he said.
Motlanthe held the NEC largely responsible to failing to manage the leadership crisis. ”Quite clearly, this NEC has failed to resolve the divisive issues that have plagued the movement in the past few years.”
He also criticised it for its lethargy in building the party through mass work. ”Another key shortcoming of the NEC is the general lack of participation of NEC members in the mass work of the organisation.” He extended this criticism to the branch and regional structures of the party, suggesting that the current malaise was largely a result of eroding strength of the party at its lowest, but most important, levels.
”In general our branches struggle to maintain sustained campaigns of community mobilisation. In many instances, conflictual rather than cooperative relations develop between the ANC branch and other structures, including community forums, organisations and, in some cases, the ANC’s own public representatives.”
The breakdown of the party structures and their relationship with community members as the biggest danger to the party was the running theme throughout Motlanthe’s speech. At the 2005 national general council, his organisational review focused on careerism in the party as a general theme.
Motlanthe asked candid questions about the relevance of the tripartite alliance in the context of divergent political, ideological and economic values among the stakeholders in the current climate.
He suggested that while the alliance was functioning well ”in general terms” at a structural level, the reality was different. ”Cracks have started to appear at the level of strategic conceptualisation … [there are] divergent interpretations of the role of the progressive trade-union movement and of a communist party in the midst of the NDR [national democratic revolution].”
In this context, he asked: ”Are the modes of operation and organisational practices associated with the operation of the alliance in earlier times sufficient to confront the real challenges we face today?” This is a question that the newly appointed NEC has to address with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party.
The ANC membership has grown by 71% from 440 708 to 621 237 since the last official audit in 2005. The Eastern Cape has shown the largest growth (46%) — today one on four ANC members is from the province. The Free State and the Western Cape are the only two provinces where there has been a decline in membership. Much of the membership growth is the result of pre-conference membership drives and is likely to decrease next year.