There are no heroes or heroines in the ANC NEC
Power don’t come from a badge, or a gun. Power comes from lying. Lying big and [getting] the whole damn world to play along with you. Once you got everybody agreeing with what they know in their hearts aint true, you got them by the balls.
(Corrupt politician, Senator Burke in the film, Sin City)
There are no heroes or heroines in the ANC NEC; the latest and second attempt by an Mbeki lieutenant to remove President Zuma from office may tempt one to think there is hope for this once glorious organisation. This is not the case.
This remnant Mbeki faction has eagerly attached itself to the larger current anti-Zuma faction and wants to make a political come-back, given the ripe prevailing objective and subjective conditions in the country.
This same Mbeki faction previously enjoyed political power and began the network of cronyism and patronage which has now taken on a life of its own, and which is now in full swing for the benefit of the Zuma and Gupta families and their acolytes.
Whilst one in no way supports Kebby Maphatsoe’s politics, one suspects there is a grain of truth when he implies that ANC veterans, who now oppose Zuma have benefitted materially from patronage during the Mbeki-era. If truth be told we may never know the extent of patronage under Mbeki: whose spouse got a lucrative job or tender/s, whose sibling or comrade or friend got a coveted ambassadorial post, who got a huge Special Pension pay-out, etc.
What we do know is that the Mbeki faction wants another bite at the cherry to further enrich themselves through renewed plum government appointments, all this to be done in the guise of ridding the ANC of corruption and installing Cyril Ramaphosa in Zuma’s place.
The Mbeki era had two major features: namely ‘political’ appointments based on patronage or ‘redeployment’ and more significantly Mbeki’s power to do as he pleased, when he pleased. In order to accomplish these two features Mbeki had to surround himself with people who could, and did, lie all the time. How otherwise did he become so powerful within the ANC?
It was Mbeki’s centralised grip on power which led to the debacle around poor people’s access to anti-retrovirals (ARVs). His refusal to provide ARVs was a tipping point for COSATU and the SACP. Mbeki was arrogant and suffered a God-like complex; he decided not to provide ARVs through state hospitals thus having power over poor people’s very existence. Mbeki decided who lived or died.
If Ngoako Ramatlodhi is to be believed, Mandela’s presence at an ANC NEC meeting in 2002 to request ARVs for the masses was met with bullying and hounding and Mandela left the meeting defeated. If the great Mandela could not express himself freely in Mbeki’s ANC, then who could? This event clearly points to the Zanufication of the ANC. No one dared to disagree with Mbeki. One just has to read Jeremy Cronin on this matter. Mbeki centralised power; it was his way or the highway and his lieutenant’s followed suit; drunk with their personal powers.
The grave mistake the tripartite alliance made however, when they ousted Mbeki was not to unravel the centralised power structures within the state and the ANC; which Mbeki and company had installed and which Zuma then happily inherited and abused for personal gain.
As for human rights, the rendition of Khalid Rashid in 2005 took place on Mbeki’s watch and the government spokesperson at the time denied it ever happened. In 2009, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that Mbeki’s government had acted unlawfully in the Khalid Rashid matter. In my view, Mbeki’s people have never cared for, or upheld democracy and constitutionality.
Remember when the ANC, under Mbeki’s presidency, unsuccessfully went to court in an attempt to stop the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Report in 1998, whereas Mandela as president of the country accepted the TRC Report unconditionally? Remember when Mbeki rather persecuted Vusi Pikoli than have the late former Police Commissioner Selebi charged with corruption? A leopard never changes its spots.
Mbeki’s lieutenants have never been interested in the truth; only in smoke and mirrors; they have always been too self-obsessed and too busy enjoying the fruits of power and patronage to care about the person in the street. And my evidence for this is…Mbeki’s people were central to the decision to acquire arms costing billions of rand ahead of the welfare of South Africa’s people, despite the fact that SA had no enemies.
The recent anti-Zuma posturing in the ANC NEC is not for the sake of the people; this faction has never spoken out on crucial national matters such as violence against women, unemployment, the dire poverty of black people, etc.
Our country cannot afford for this remnant Mbeki faction to once again smell power let alone taste it. Let the latest attempt to oust Zuma come with a caution to all democrats, lest we be caught off-guard, and see a remnant of the Mbeki faction as part of the solution to our problems.
Whilst it could be argued that lying and obfuscation was made fashionable by Mbeki and his lieutenants, Zuma and company have made lying into an art. Corruption under Mbeki was executed on a much smaller scale when compared to the corruption under Zuma. However, the psychological foundations for lies and more lies intertwined with fear was laid on Mbeki’s watch.
So as much as we want to rid ourselves of Zuma we do not want Mbeki’s people back in political power. That would be a disaster. We have come too far and suffered too much under apartheid and then under an Mbeki- and Zuma-led government to settle for less. The only people’s heroes and heroines we can look towards are ourselves - ordinary citizens who must actively strive to keep this or any other democratically elected government accountable.
Nicole Van Driel spent two spells in detention at the ages of 17 and 18, in 1980 and 1981 respectively. She specialised in the history of the ANC and her book, Wankie 1967, is soon to be released.
