Occasionally one still encounters those who proclaim their perplexity at the ANC’s policy proposals. They simply cannot make head or tail of why the ANC would so boldly pursue policies which seem to go against basic economic principles, common sense and reality.
I discovered a simple rule of thumb that will assist anyone who tries to make sense of what really directs and motivates ANC decision making. First, you need to understand what drives the ANC: an insatiable appetite for increasingly centralised government power.
Whenever you are challenged with evaluating ANC policy proposals, looking for the method in their madness, you should ask one simple question: Does this policy increase or decrease the power and control of the government?
You will soon realise that virtually every ANC policy will exhibit the vital characteristic of centralising more power and control in the hands of the government – anything different would be a betrayal of their fundamental National Democratic Revolution (NDR) gospel.
Albert Camus succinctly noted: “The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.”
It then comes as no surprise when ANC comrades and their lap dogs lose their composure when their ruse is exposed. When AfriForum and Solidarity for example recently challenged the government’s racist and discriminatory Tourism Fund, the ANC hyperbolically likened it to a “declaration of war”.