Beware the wedge-driver – Mbalula

2 July 2017

Presenting the organisational renewal discussion document to the Policy Conference, Comrade Fikile Mbalula, ANC Head of Organisational Development, was emphatic that organizational renewal was deeply anchored on the unity and cohesion of the ANC.  The challenges confronting the ANC are many and require focus, dedication and unstinting commitment to reasserting the values of the movement.

Mbalula set the tone by quoting OR Tambo when he was closing the ANC’s first consultative conference in Morogoro in 1969 when he said, “Comrades, beware of the wedge-driver, the man who creeps from ear to ear, carrying a bag full of wedges, driving them in between you and the next man, between a group and another, a man who goes round creating splits and divisions. Beware of the wedge-driver, comrades. Watch his poisonous tongue”.

“Cde Tambo’s wise counsel has never been more relevant in the history of the ANC,” says Mbalula.   “The emergence of destructive tendencies and factions whose sole preoccupation is to amass political power for themselves and their friends at the expense of the ANC pose a real danger to the ANC.”  Mbalula similarly cautioned the ANC against the rot that was settling and undermining its ability to effectively play its role as a leader of the progressive forces.  He challenged the Policy Conference to look critically at this alien conduct that threatens the hegemony of the ANC and outlines its defining characters as:

- Widening social distance between ANC leaders and members

- Rampant corruption

- Poor service delivery record of government

- Factionalism

- Abuse and manipulation of organizational processes for personal gain

- Ill-discipline of members characterised by flagrant disregard of established rules of conduct

- Use of intelligence (public and private) to spy on fellow members

- Arrogance of leadership in dealings with members or civil society

According to Mbalula, “a key condition to achieve organizational renewal remains an honest appreciation and acknowledgement of the negative tendencies that has become rampant in the organization.  Members should always be weary of those who mask themselves as revolutionaries while using the structures of the ANC to achieve personal political ends.  Similarly, renewal presupposes that one has fully understood that, which impedes progress, before any forward momentum can be realised.”

Speaking on the character of the ANC, Mbalula said, “In navigating the path towards renewal, the ANC must have a full appreciation of the treacherous path that has to be traversed.  The premise of this is the affirmation of some of the core values that underpin organizational hegemony. These include the appreciation that the ANC is a product of the left with a bias towards the working class and the poor;  the ANC remains a strategic centre of power and a leader of the progressive forces.” He further added that “the rule of law is a cornerstone of a transformed society where all citizens are equal before the law, progressive Civil Society thrives and where the ANC earns its leadership role through constructive engagements with organs of civil society.”

Mbalula urged delegates not only to be honest in the appraisal of the challenges the ANC faces, but to also engage robustly without fear or favour.  He challenged them to be bold in conceptualizing robust and radical interventions to achieve renewal.  Mbalula implored Conference to seriously consider re-orientating itself and to critically examine whether in the light of the current challenges this requires only adjustments to its organizational design or a complete revamp of the organisational machinery.

The National Policy Conference will continue until Wednesday when the plenary session will reconvene to adopt recommendations towards the National Conference to be held in December.

Issued by South African Government, 2 July 2017