To root out the rot in the ANC, we must root out the crass materialism, bigotry and arrogance of student leaders.
In the past few years I have watched with disappointment and disgust the shockingly low levels of debate that have come to characterise student politics in South Africa.
So, if we ask how the ANC can rid itself of the materialism and narcissism that threaten to destroy the movement, the answer is simple: let us encourage the young leaders coming through the ranks of our higher education institutions to have real debates aimed at enhancing the socioeconomic conditions of our lot.
Otherwise the ANC will reproduce the same quality — that is, lack thereof — of leaders as it has today.
I grew up in an era when higher education institutions were regarded as laboratories that produced quality leaders.
I was particularly in awe of student movements such as the South African Students’ Congress, the Azanian Students’ Congress and the Pan African Student Movement of Azania, which all produced leaders of outstanding quality.
Like most students of history and politics, I was regaled with tales of how the titans of our struggle were nurtured in our institutions of higher learning.
What was particularly encouraging was the level of ideas and debate that shaped these organisations.
But lately, like many young people, I have become despondent at the opportunism and shameful materialism that have engulfed student politics.
There needs to be a concerted effort to raise debate with these young leaders beyond their obsession with power, opportunism, material gain and arrogance.
It is an insult to hear these so-called leaders shamelessly narrating how they win powerful positions on student representative councils (SRCs) by entertaining fellow students in shebeens. Yet those who object are cowed into silence about this blatant patronage because they fear reprisal.
A closer look at the activities of these student organisations, which they say are aimed at ‘furthering the cause of students”, would be laughable if it wes not so tragic. These SRC leaders are often judged by the number of parties and beauty contests they organise.
Have students become so despondent about the leadership of their peers that they now use such low barometers to measure success?
Or could it be that they have lost so much hope that they have come to accept such mediocre levels of leadership?
Do we suffer from political kwashiorkor — the absence of ideas?
I am encouraged when leaders such as ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe decry the tendency of some individuals to use the party as a springboard to further their own narrow economic gains.
Like others on the left, Mantashe is a crusader against individuals who are more preoccupied with getting government tenders than with delivering on the mandate given to the organisation by its electorate.
The ANC’s left-leaning allies, such as Cosatu and the South African Communist Party, have been making the right noises in sharply criticising Cabinet members who have splashed out on expensive cars in the face of economic hardships endured by their compatriots.
It rang so true when Mantashe said recently: ‘We must refuse to accept that getting elected to a position of influence is a licence for personal accumulation. If we do not succeed in fighting and defeating this tendency, we will continue to see bitter fighting for election to positions in the ANC because it will create opportunities to dispense patronage and accumulate at a personal level.”
Such pronouncements will not make you many friends, I know, but we should encourage such principled leadership.
I am not steeped in the revered struggle tradition of the ANC or of any of the liberation movements and I may be accused of not understanding the values that underpin such organisations.
But I believe that the quality of leadership that we expect must be nurtured at very basic levels, starting at tertiary institutions.
I wait with great anticipation to hear these so-called leaders deliberate on how they plan to engage university managements to make higher education accessible to the poorest of our people.
I am waiting for these leaders to break bread on how we can ensure collectively that the quality of matriculants entering the system is improved.
I am waiting for ideas on how they plan to assist students from previously disadvantaged communities to navigate the often treacherous waters of tertiary life.
I am waiting for debate on how they can engage university management to ensure that they produce graduates who address the skills shortage in the economy.
Lunga Mtshizana is a media relations manager writing in his personal capacity