Attention Desperation — when politics and politicians spoil the nation’s holiest moments

9 Nov 2023

The argument between the ANC Women’s League and the KwaZulu-Natal ANC over the handling of the Rugby World Cup trophy is yet another example of how our politicians have mishandled the victory celebrations. While the missteps of politicians over the Springboks’ victory appear petty and the squabbles childish, they reveal a complete lack of political competence and direction.

In the days since the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup for an unprecedented fourth time, there has been a series of missteps by our politicians.

First, President Cyril Ramaphosa gave a completely unnecessary address to the nation. While he was right to attend the World Cup final (as did Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki before him, although Zuma missed out and Ramaphosa has now held the trophy twice), there was no need for a national address.

When he did speak, he focused on what he claimed were his government’s “achievements”. To many, he was using and abusing the Springboks’ hard-won victory for narrow political gains and cheap electioneering.

Certainly, it appeared that the only reason many people watched the address was to confirm that he would fulfil his half-promise to grant a public holiday.

While a President has the legal power to declare a public holiday for virtually any reason, it has never happened in SA before that such a day has been declared because of a sporting victory.

Ramaphosa’s speech was a transparent attempt to benefit politically from a sporting event in which he had no hand until he was given the chance, ex officio, to lift the Webb Ellis Cup.

And he was not the only one to try to gain political mileage from the Springboks’ victory.

Another EFF flip-flop

Within an hour of the final whistle, the EFF put out a graphic in the party’s colours on X (formerly Twitter) with a picture of the Springbok team and a message that the victory was “Historic, Monumental and Inspiring”.

This was in stark contrast to the EFF’s response to the Springbok victory in 2019, when the party’s then spokesperson, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, tweeted: “Congratulations to #SiyaKolisi…the rest go get your congratulations from Prince Harry.”

As we pointed out at the time, at a moment of national unity, the EFF sought to divide.

However, the EFF decided to join the national celebrations this time — until this last weekend, that is, when its leader, Julius Malema, backtracked on the party’s message.

As News24 reported, he said the EFF’s original celebration had been a “slip in political consciousness” and denounced the Springboks’ emblem, name and colours as symbols of white supremacy which needed to be replaced.

It is not clear why the EFF first supported the Springboks and, then a week later, did an about-turn — other than an attempt to have its cake and eat it. Still, it follows a consistent pattern where the EFF and its leader find it difficult to stick to one course.

This is just the latest in a long line of flip-flops by Malema and will probably soon be forgotten.

A display of disunity in Durban

However, the disunity displayed by the ANC over the Springbok victory celebrations in Durban is likely to linger for much longer.

There, in an event with members of the provincial government, Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth (AKA Elizabedi) was due to hold up the trophy with the KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube.

But the ANC KZN leader, Siboniso Duma, who was standing on the other side of Etzebeth, beat Dube-Ncube to the draw and it was he who held up the trophy with the Springbok.

Dube-Ncube tried to touch the trophy and then graciously clapped along with the rest of the crowd.

In response, the EFF said this showed that Duma “despises a woman who comes from the very same organisation that he leads”.

While criticism from an opposition party is to be expected, what was surprising was the reaction of the ANC Women’s League.

Their statement was hugely condemnatory, accusing Duma of sexism and claiming it had been a deliberate act. Intriguingly, the statement was released in the name of the league’s deputy secretary-general, Dina Pule, who declined interview requests.

Amazingly, the KZN ANC’s spokesperson, Mafika Mndebele, did not give party members a chance to resolve the dispute behind closed doors or make visible attempts to damp things down.

Instead, he launched a personal attack on Pule, referencing her conduct in 2013, when she was found guilty of arranging contracts for her then partner while she was the minister of communications.

He said that Duma had done nothing wrong and that Dube-Ncube had not made a complaint.

This was particularly personal. While it has become increasingly common in recent times for factions of the ANC to attack other factions (and this is pretty much the history of the ANC Youth League), it is rare to see the ANC’s dirty laundry being recycled in public in this way.

It suggests that the Women’s League felt emboldened to attack Duma because Luthuli House is worried about how the provincial body is conducting itself.

Already, the Presidency has tried to take the eThekwini Metro into partial administration, while the decision by the provincial education department to change the suppliers of school meals led to national outrage.

Political incompetence

While it is tempting to dismiss all of this as petty politics, there are important insights to be gleaned.

The first is that there has been an incredible display of political incompetence from so many quarters.

Ramaphosa, Malema and the KZN ANC have all been able to mess up what should be the easiest of things, the celebration of a glorious sporting victory.

(They are not alone in messing things up — witness Spain’s former football association president Luis Rubiales, whose unconsented kiss of the national star female player almost overshadowed the country’s famous World Cup victory. The player, Jennifer Hermoso, received death threats after Rubiales was eventually forced to resign.)

The lesson should be simple: keep politics out of things to which you have not contributed in any way.

But this is a symptom of a deeper problem in our politics.

Many political leaders are not sure in which direction to move, how to win votes, or what actions to take, with the most consequential elections in a generation on the horizon.

This glaring incompetence is why two structures of the ANC, its KZN leadership and its Women’s League, have different views on one small incident.

It is why, when under pressure, politicians so often look to the past for direction.

It is why exchanges in Parliament dissolve into arguments about South Africa’s apartheid and colonial past and the ANC’s “allegedly” corrupt track record.

This is safe ground for members of the ANC and often the DA, and frees politicians from having to actually lead in any particular direction. They don’t have to take any new positions on the problems that face us now.

Also, politicians will sometimes seek to use seemingly small incidents to make bigger points. In the past, even something as seemingly trivial as eating birthday cake was politicised.

In 2012, the ANC, led then by Jacob Zuma, said publicly that leaders would no longer eat cake or drink Champagne at ANC events after Kgalema Motlanthe had said leaders would drink Champagne on behalf of their members.

This was really a way for Zuma’s supporters to show their opposition to Motlanthe. (Motlanthe was a serial victim of this; in the same year he agreed to speak at a fundraising event in Durban for the SACP. None of the SACP leaders attended, claiming they were too tired from their conference.)

It is also a reflection of the fracturing process under way in our politics, where there are more small parties than ever before, and even individuals appear to hold independent political power.

This means that politicians become less certain of what to do and more desperate to do something, and to be seen to be doing something — no matter how ill-advised that may be.

Unfortunately, this also means that even something as simple and unifying as a generational sporting victory will be sacrificed on the altar of attention desperation. DM

Categories:

Maverick News

Tags:

DM is much better if you are signed in...

Maverick News

Another EFF flip-flop

A display of disunity in Durban

Political incompetence