Daily Maverick
Dailymaverick logo

Opinionistas

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are not that of Daily Maverick.....

ANC must rise above populism and stop marching against itself

Kgabo Morifi
By Kgabo Morifi
16 Aug 2022
Facebook
2
When the ANC marches on government departments, who are they really marching for and against? The answer to this question is very simple — the ANC is marching against itself.

One of the most revolutionary things to do is to call things out for what they are — this means, in the words of Amilcar Cabral, that we have an obligation to never hide anything “from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories”.

Thus one was really baffled by what I believe is the sheer populism displayed by the revolutionary movement, the African National Congress (ANC) in the marches it recently led to various law enforcement agencies across all the regions of Gauteng.

There have been media reports on various challenges facing the people of Gauteng and South Africa related to gender-based violence (GBV) and illegal mining which is alleged to be done by foreign nationals. In the midst of all these challenges, the ANC in Gauteng led marches to various police stations across the province. 

It is important to note that policing is a mandate of the national government which is governed by the ANC. The question is: if the ANC is marching on government departments, who are they really marching for and against? The answer to this question is very simple — the ANC is marching against itself.

The follow-up question may be, who should then respond to these marches? This question is important, however, to answer it we have to problematise our own government because there seems to be discord in how we respond to issues.

The first issue of concern is that Cabinet ministers have assumed the role of being celebrities, they like appearing in the media. Our leaders conflate the role of Cabinet with that of being fire extinguishers and rapid response units. 



Visit Daily Maverick's home page for more news, analysis and investigations



For example, Minister Bheki Cele has not really presented the country with a strategy for how we are going to address crime prevention in South Africa. All we see is his ministerial hat that protects the head that is supposed to be engaged in serious intellectual discourse on how to deal with the challenges we face. Sadly, we may be asking too much of this very loud minister.

A few days back, I had a discussion with the CEO of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, Advocate Max Boqwana, about a number of challenges facing the democratic state. Among the things we reflected on was the question of whether or not South Africa is really a failed state.

We agreed that we have not yet reached that level, however, we may arrive there if something urgent is not done. The other matter of concern we discussed was the manner in which our government is deeply concerned about making media headlines instead of providing thought leadership aimed at ensuring that the democratic project succeeds. 

An undisputed fact is that the sixth administration came with what was characterised as “Ramaphoria”, a euphoria brought by President Cyril Ramaphosa when he emerged as the ANC president. However this has been short-lived as South Africa, more than ever before, has been wracked with sky-rocketing inequality, unemployment and poverty.

Former president Thabo Mbeki has warned that we may face our own Arab Spring should we not address the challenges facing our country. Is there a reason to not believe Mbeki? The answer is no — to ignore Mbeki would be tantamount to marching to our own Titanic moment. We cannot afford to ignore his words.

To avoid imminent colour revolutions, we have to start being honest with ourselves. President Ramaphosa should start giving tangible feedback on the promises he has made to the people of this country.

In his popular family meetings, he has promised South Africans heaven and Earth. When are we going to be informed of the outcomes of all the investments and monies he has committed? The fact is that the masses of our people on the ground are not happy with promises we make now and then — they need results. Is President Ramaphosa ready to deliver?

This question is important because the ANC does not seem to have an alternative candidate for its presidency outside of President Ramaphosa. We need to make a clarion call to President Ramaphosa to wake up from his slumber, the ANC is in crisis.

To salvage it, this glorious movement cannot afford populism to define its edifice. They have to act in the people’s interest. These marches led by the ANC to the government it leads will not help us with anything. Government must just do its work. DM

Categories:

Tags: