Cry the beloved country: The ANC is bereft of ideas, plans and programmes

The central feature of the apartheid policy and governance was to slice and dice our country into unsustainable fragments based on race, religion, class and gender. This was applied to geographical spatial planning; tribal tendencies were turned into “nations” that deserved their own separate “statehood” — the Bantustans. 

This method of divide and rule, learnt from the British, was the most potent way for a minority to have hegemonic control over all aspects of South Africans’ lives.

The responsibility of the liberation movement was, therefore, to unite South Africa behind a common liberation vision and to extricate the country from the backward divisions and underdevelopment imposed by the legacy of apartheid and colonialism. 

This, then, constitutes the historic task of the ANC as the leader of the liberation struggle. It requires thought, leadership, commitment, determination and hard work. Whether the ANC is today equal to this task is a question that seems to come from its own stalwarts.

Towards the dawn of democracy, through the proposals contained in various documents, the ANC spoke with much clarity about the future democratic South Africa, both in terms of governance and economic approaches. Even before it ruled the country, the ANC was quite clear about how it would manage the transition from such a divided past to one based on the values of our Constitution, and create unity in diversity.

As soon as the ANC was in power, it developed a comprehensive socioeconomic programme to fundamentally transform South Africa and close the gaps created among our people by apartheid’s economic and social divides, racial spatial planning and differentiated access to amenities. 

This was constituted into an ambitious programme — the Reconstruction and Development Programme — and became the basis of policy formulation, planning, monitoring and evaluation. This gave the population and all sectors of our population confidence and hope in the new government. This vision, in the hands of committed and trusted leadership, was all the new South Africa needed as it entered the “age of hope”.

Some of the ANC’s policies remain a blueprint to redress the country’s socioeconomic problems. What was not immediately clear at the beginning of democracy was the extent of the country’s bankruptcy, lack of economic growth and jittery investment in the new South Africa. 

Our ambitious plans were not backed by available financial resources; to put the plans in motion would have led to indebtedness to the Bretton Woods institutions (such as the World Bank, and International Monetary Fund) and South Africa would have suffered the fate of many post-liberation societies; an unbearable national debt that undermines their sovereignty.

The Growth, Employment and Redistribution programme was a direct response to the challenges emanating from the shortcomings presented by the Reconstruction and Development Programme. It intended to facilitate wage and price moderation, underpin accelerated investment and employment, and enhance public service delivery. It was premised on the need for growth in the economy and to align budget and expenditure to what the country could afford. 

It led to unprecedented and sustained economic growth during the second and third administrations, which made it possible for the government to deal aggressively with the socioeconomic needs of the population, including providing housing, electricity, education, water and sanitation and social welfare programmes, without incurring debt. It even created national financial reserves.

Despite the progress made, some of the ANC’s programmes did not meet its own expectations. Employment, although it grew, did not coincide with economic growth; the expected level of foreign and domestic investment was somehow overstated; the problems in other countries such as Brazil and Zimbabwe had an unanticipated effect on South Africa’s economic situation; there was a dearth of skills required to manage and enhance a growing economy; and the fractured relationships with the so-called left partners of the ANC began a process of confusion and weakening of the party. 

This ushered in a disastrous policy vacuum, which led to state capture and the collapse of the economy. Even the reviewed approach that produced the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa and the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills for South Africa was thrown out by the post-Polokwane triumphalists.

Since then, we have had numerous policy proposals and the situation has become more confusing. We now stumble from one crisis to the next, with very busy leaders, whose business has nothing to do with the offices they occupy and the genuine interests of the population. Theirs is a performance to capture media headlines, with absolutely no substance being proffered.

This marks the end of an era of thoughtful, researched, properly scrutinised and analysed policy by the ANC, which sought to inspire hope and make a real difference in the economy and people’s lives. Instead, we are faced with so much policy uncertainty and the making of policy on the hoof by our leaders. The scores of advisory schemes created only add to the confusion and the directionless nature of the government. 

This is what characterises our administration today: there is no clear economic development policy, no clear investment strategy, no clear security strategy, no clear international relations and immigration policy. Neither is there any plan, at least that we know of, on how to rid our country of the extreme levels of poverty and unemployment, and how to rid South Africa of the legacy of apartheid.

The current crisis faced by the movement and by our country is not on its own unprecedented; the tragedy is that none of the “available” pretenders to the throne to lead the ANC have espoused a single practical, inspirational idea on what are we going to do differently to save our country from collapsing. 

Those who contest positions are the same people under whose watch we have high levels of insecurity and criminality in our country and a declining economy, resulting in the highest levels of unemployment and deepening levels of poverty. 

These “leaders” have failed dismally in creating an economic strategy to respond to these clearly identified problems. Even sadder is the loss of prestige of our country — at home, in Africa and abroad.

The second-layer leaders who seek to be senior officials in the ANC have zero histories of success, thought leadership or action that inspire the idea of freedom. Today they have no idea why they want to lead except for the prestige, privilege and the enjoyment of the game of chairs, in which the people are the biggest losers. Where there has been election of provincial executives, even before the ink is dry, a change of provincial cabinet is effected — to do what exactly, no one knows.

It is this same ANC leadership that has presided over the successive loss of popular appeal, as reflected in the 2016, 2019 and 2021 elections. The cause for this loss is the ANC’s growing lack of legitimacy, the misgovernance by the same leaders of the movement and their uncaring attitude, inspired by nothing else except the objective that “it is our turn to eat”, and their dearth of ideas on how to manage a relative complex political and economic system.

Those who are desperate to lead are only concerned about themselves and their factions. Some even use attributes such as gender equality and youth inclusion in a manner that is devoid of content — a betrayal of the long struggles of women and youth for equality in this country. 

The women and the youth they seek to emulate were inspiring, committed, focused and effective. Our movement, the ANC, is broken, and those who caused this situation now unashamedly seek to be rewarded by being not only re-elected but promoted, instead of hanging their heads in shame.

The current crop of pretenders who loudly shout that “ndikhetheni choose me)”, in my view, metaphorically represent those in the ANC who will now formally move this movement of our forebears from the intensive care unit to the mortuary, and eventually to the graveyard. 

Without an idea, without a vision, without commitment beyond self, there can never be a renewal of the ANC — those who are the cause of this chaos surely cannot be the ones to salvage the ANC from its demise. The accumulation of the kind of askaris, narcissists and greedy members is the undoing of the party. 

For those pretenders, however loud we proclaim “zemk’ inkomo magwalandini (there goes your heritage, you cowards)” they are incapable of hearing, listening and of acting correctly.

We still wait with much hope from our movement, the ANC and the country for those who are willing to sacrifice by serving others, those who know their limitations and are not confused, those who have intellect, knowledge, capability, a track record, and love for this nation to respond when called and work to save our country. I am afraid those may be converging somewhere else, planning to save South Africa from its erstwhile “liberators”.

I know that there are still many among us who are able to articulate and act in a manner that gives meaning to the very idea of freedom but our leaders of today and those with whom they work are not the ones.

Long Live ANC!

Amandla

Anda Bici is an ANC member and activist, and works in the energy sector.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Mail & Guardian.