Nostalgia is made possible by our great capacity for selective memory. Time heals our minds of the immediacy of the pains and shameful deeds of the past. At the same time, most who lived through the political turmoil of the 1970s, 1980s and the first half of the 1990s would agree that this was a remarkable period of heroism.
The masses were inspired in their struggles by the vanguard of this movement, the ANC activists who led by example. In the minds of the people these activists came to embody the struggle ethos of self-sacrifice for the cause.
The primary origin of the most serious post-1994 political problems was the message, both explicit and subliminal, from the ANC leadership that the struggle for the cause had now been replaced by the pursuit of wealth. The leadership apparently now disapproved of the familiar struggle era slogan “Mayibuye iAfrica! [Let Africa come back!]”. The approved version was now “Ibuyile iAfrica! [Africa has come back!]”. In all fairness, Africa had indeed come back — but to the elite. One senior ANC leader and a multiple BEE beneficiary proclaimed that he “did not join the struggle to be poor”, while a senior Cabinet minister declared: “It is now okay to be filthy rich.”
The subliminal message was that it was okay to become rich overnight without being a particularly smart or hardworking person. Middle-ranking ANC cadres in management positions must have thought they were joining the party when they started to embezzle public funds. Indeed, even funds meant for the poorest of the poor in departments such as social services were not exempt.
People wondered how the former selflessness of these faded heroes changed into shameless greed. Under the circumstances, it was to be expected that the ANC Youth League, which consists of those who were hardly out of their diapers in 1994, would take to this new culture like little ducks to water. The league’s leaders became the first generation of blacks to graduate directly from Toys ‘R’ Us to Porsche dealerships.
This feeding frenzy might have been less demeaning if it were accompanied by genuine skills development leading to control of substantial sectors of the economy by black entrepreneurs. But most BEE multimillionaires were simply taking share ownership in businesses they were not running.
We need an antidote to this degenerate behaviour. It is not too late for the ANC — and it is an opportune time for the Shikota party — to emulate the struggle of the 1980s by formulating a clear cause, a higher purpose, for which we should be striving. It is not enough to mouth vague generalisations such as “fighting poverty”. The real task is to deracialise the ownership and control of the economy and to drastically reduce economic inequalities, while growing the economy.
This is a big project that needs to be coordinated in terms of a clear plan. For instance, the plan would indicate to universities the most relevant research focus and to students the most important skills to acquire. It is a mystery why we spend billions financing 20 universities if we have to rely on Harvard professors to advise on macroeconomic strategy.
One would have thought that by the year 2008 the qualification for leadership of a youth league would include engaging the youth as a think tank to contribute in tackling the big economic problems facing us today.
Universities should have been required to look into service delivery and devise crash courses and refresher courses for trainees to benefit from such courses. One would expect a genuinely revolutionary youth to despise BEE and to rebuke the elders for their preoccupation with handouts from the master’s table.