In an important contribution to national debate on a most critical issue, "Something greater than oneself", Thula Bopela asked the question of questions. The posing of this question comes from a veteran of the Luthuli Battalion who fought as a soldier of Umkhonto we Sizwe in the Wankie campaign in Zimbabwe in 1967, was captured in battle and sentenced to death, was reprieved and served more than ten years in prison, and many years later played a crucial role in helping to end the civil war in KwaZulu-Natal, a vital precondition of the first democratic elections in April 1994.

Mr Bopela's book, Umkhonto we Sizwe: Fighting for a Divided People (Galago, Alberton, 2005), co-authored with his comrade from the Wankie campaign, Daluxolo Luthuli, is an essential autobiographical source in modern South African history, to be read and studied.

His question is this: "Joining the ANC in the 60s demanded service and sacrifice. It was something far greater than the people who joined it. This ANC now has become a vehicle to power and wealth....Can the ANC redeem itself from the malady that afflicts it today, the malady of self-aggrandizement?"

As can be seen from the comments at the foot of Mr Bopela's article, there are many different responses to this question.

I wish to propose another.

For me, the malady of self-aggrandizement was as inevitable as the change of seasons, once the ANC and the National Party in secret discussions during formulation of the Interim Constitution removed constituency accountability from the proposed Electoral Law, and set in place the despotic instrument of the party-list. 

At that instant, the first principle of the Freedom Charter - "The people shall govern!" - was compromised. No means was provided in the Electoral Law by which the people, meaning definite local communities, could hold each and every elected politician to account. Instead of being accountable downwards, to the voters - who could make and unmake every career - all elected politicians in the country at the level of National Assembly, Provincial Legislatures and for half of all municipal councillors became accountable upwards only, to a small group of powerful senior politicians, the party bosses.

At that instant, the life-giving link between party and people was broken.

From there, it was a short step to the identification of politics with corruption, and misgovernment.

The remedy is a movement for Reform. What was made badly in the Interim Constitution and the Constitution of 1996 should be repaired, and reformed, so as to place power where it should always have belonged, in the hands of definite bodies of local people, organised in wards or constituencies. Whether these should cover this or that proportion of seats, or provide for single-member or multi-member constituencies, should become the subject of national discussion and debate. No better subject in the ANC's centennial year! The mark of maturity of a great national political party is that it take stock, and reform itself, as the means to revitalise itself.

The commissariat of Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Assocation (MKMVA) has proposed that a non-elective consultative conference of the ANC be held in advance of the forthcoming national elective conference.

This makes total sense.

Let Mr Bopela's question be placed before all branches of all relevant organisations, in this slightly altered form:

"The ANC has become a vehicle to power and wealth....How can the ANC redeem itself from the malady that afflicts it, the malady of self-aggrandizement?"

Let discussion take place on what needs to be done, to make a reality of that promise: "The people shall govern!"

And let discussion take place on Electoral Reform.

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter