What do you think the upcoming ANC conference will be ?
● The conference will be marred by the conflicting interests. There will be those leaders who will try to use the conference as a platform to further their egoist interest and their insatiable power desires. It will denude the self-aggrandising leadership, a modality of leadership that is ever present within a revolution and within a mass-democratic movement in South Africa.
● On the flipside of the same coin, we will see an emergence of the leadership, envisioned by the ANC tactics and strategy document and through the eye of the needle document (The likes of Sexwale). Though, very small in proportion, this type of leadership is capable and will try to advance the goals of National Democratic Revolution. I t is this kind of leadership within the party, that still vehemently believes that, the movement is not the product of historical mistakes but the end product of historical necessity. By virtue of its commitment to the movement, this leadership will try to protect the proud legacy of the movement, post the Limpopo conference.
Though ideologically enclined, by its normative description, this is a kind of leadership that pragmatically unpacks and engage with issues. A leadership that uses scientific determinism (a tool of analysis that states that one can be able to understand everything through logical analyses of causes and effects) as its frame of reference when dealing with day to day issues affecting "lumpenproletariat.”. Also using Marxist-Leninist tools of analysis, this leadership will try to postulate a better ANC and South Africa post the Limpopo gathering. It is important to note that, the balance of forces are in favour of this group, so once elected, they can also be able to be a catalyst of change and are capable of adding value in the advancement of the NDR.
● Nevertheless, it is worth noting that, both forms of leadership that will emerge in the conference have their own common shortcomings. As Franz Fanon ( Pitfalls of National Consciousness) warned us, these liberation leaders, after the struggle, they often fail at achieving liberation across class boundaries because their aspirations are primarily those of the colonized bourgeoisie-they seek to defeat the prevailing colonial rule ( apartheid in the South African context) only to usurp its place of dominance and surveillance over the working-class ("lumpenproletariat”).
● The conference will be also emblematic of the Hobbesian Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes (“The war of all against all”) scenario . ANC delegates will engage in pugilist debates (verbally fight/tongue lash each other) as if they are not in the ‘state of nature’ or they were not joined in a society (ANC).
● The conference will also be dominated by the quid pro quo (something for something, favour for favour, give and take) situation. Branch membership’s interests will be traded in return for something ‘of value’, not beneficiary to the general membership.
Hiring and Firing
● I’m not sure whether Suresh Roberts can still opined with audacity that the president is ‘fit’ to govern, after the recent hullabaloo in the South African political discourse. Mbeki’s firing and hiring tendency reveals that he spent much time reading the Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli and that he is an ardent follower of Machiavellianism. Once regarded as our intellectual in the movement, Mbeki is doing all his best in obtaining and maintaining his power. Perhaps it can be argued that he subscribes to the teleological philosophical view ("telos" is Greek for ends) that "the ends justify the means" - which is a - that any evil action can be justified if it is done for a ‘good purpose’.
● The recent firing of public servants also points to one direction, that of the ruling party’s inability to separate party politics and the state. The history tells us that, this is not uncommon to those countries that (according to Patrick Bond) are undergoing ThirdWave of Democratization (Political Transition). Inability to divorce party politics and the state hinders any prospect for good governance and can have adverse ramifications for our democracy. I hope that the recent established Mo Ibrahim Institute ( institute that rates African Countries in terms of Good Governance), will help Mbeki and other African leaders to better understand the importance of good governance in sustaining our new democracies.
● The harsh reality is that, the hysteria and sophistry that have come to cloth the President`s decision are not only reflecting badly on the ruling party and the president, but also on government.
● Of late, I have observed with sadness the incidents that are happening in our country and in the continent at large (Zimbabwe, Darfur and other parts of the Horn of Africa region). I was left with no other option, but to ask myself a question as to Quo Vadis Africa?
Comrade Thembani ‘Terror’ Mbadlanyana
Former SASCO (UCT ) Political Commissar and Deputy Chairperson 2004-2005
Ex-Officio UCT ANCYL 2005
Member of PYA ( Progressive Youth Alliance) 2005-07
Friday, November 2, 2007
Ours used to be a democratic country
Thanks once again comrades for your informative and shrewd inputs. This intellectual engagement is what I have been craving for.
I’m not far removed from the sentiments echoed by Dr Xolela Mangcu and some of you comrades. His observations and your critical analysis of South African political discourse, rightfully, reflect the current status quo. It does not need one to be a rock scientist or an ardent learner of hermeneutics to see the hogwash that has come to cloth the body polity in our country. Until yesterday, our new democracy was viewed as a beacon of hope for the motherly Africa and her children, but today we are closer to mockery.
Indeed, it is true that the current leadership of our country assiduously fought against the white hegemony, human rights violation, and authoritarian tendency of the Pretoria regime and for democracy. Amongst other things this current leadership fought for was a freedom of expression and collective or majority rule. Above all they fought for a liberal democracy that values the voices from below, a democracy where the rule of law is revered. In this regard, it can be impeccably submitted that the recent incidents in our country disqualify Francis Fukuyama`s thesis (The End of history, 1992) that “liberal democracy was arguably free from such fundamental internal contradictions”. Of late, we have come to witness the contradictions that are present in our liberal democracy, a democracy gained through ‘blood and iron’ (Borrowing Otto von Bismarck’s phraseology).
It has become evident that the leader (ship) that fought for freedom of expression, and respect for the rule of law, is the same leader (ship) that is undermining these democratic ideals. This is evidenced by the imminent arrest of Sunday Times editor and firing of the Director General of NDPP.
Our leaders are exceeding scope of their power and authority, while others have come to be covert advocates of prebendal (patron-client relations) politics and what Blade Nzimande dubbed as ‘palace politics’. Our beloved ANC lead government is steadily turning to be like the fascist regime in Italy under the leadership of Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini. A regime marked by the strict censorship and state propaganda. We have come to sadly witness the political loaded decisions, coming from the above (Union Building), decisions that are disguised as panacea to our ‘institutional ills’. The above imposed decisions only serve one purpose, that of subjugating citizens’ minds. At times protection of ‘national interests’ is thrust as a justification for these above imposed decisions. Our hard working and patriotic public servants (from NDPP and National Intelligence Agency) and some media houses are daily subjected to the panopticon gaze (see Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault and Jeremy Bentham) of the presidency.
Faced with challenges is our democratic government, challenges that are incomprehensible in nature, with others posing themselves as insidious threat to our new liberal democracy. Another time will come no more, so as learned and responsible citizens let us act comrades.In an essay entitled The Dilemma of the Black Intellectual, Cornel West writes of black intellectuals; “The central task of … black intellectuals is to stimulate, hasten, and enable alternative perceptions and practices by dislodging prevailing discourses and powers.” . Let us engage, bring alternatives and reasoning ( as Barney Pityana would argue) to the prevailing discourses in our country, country that used to be democratic.
Thembani Mbadlanyana
I’m not far removed from the sentiments echoed by Dr Xolela Mangcu and some of you comrades. His observations and your critical analysis of South African political discourse, rightfully, reflect the current status quo. It does not need one to be a rock scientist or an ardent learner of hermeneutics to see the hogwash that has come to cloth the body polity in our country. Until yesterday, our new democracy was viewed as a beacon of hope for the motherly Africa and her children, but today we are closer to mockery.
Indeed, it is true that the current leadership of our country assiduously fought against the white hegemony, human rights violation, and authoritarian tendency of the Pretoria regime and for democracy. Amongst other things this current leadership fought for was a freedom of expression and collective or majority rule. Above all they fought for a liberal democracy that values the voices from below, a democracy where the rule of law is revered. In this regard, it can be impeccably submitted that the recent incidents in our country disqualify Francis Fukuyama`s thesis (The End of history, 1992) that “liberal democracy was arguably free from such fundamental internal contradictions”. Of late, we have come to witness the contradictions that are present in our liberal democracy, a democracy gained through ‘blood and iron’ (Borrowing Otto von Bismarck’s phraseology).
It has become evident that the leader (ship) that fought for freedom of expression, and respect for the rule of law, is the same leader (ship) that is undermining these democratic ideals. This is evidenced by the imminent arrest of Sunday Times editor and firing of the Director General of NDPP.
Our leaders are exceeding scope of their power and authority, while others have come to be covert advocates of prebendal (patron-client relations) politics and what Blade Nzimande dubbed as ‘palace politics’. Our beloved ANC lead government is steadily turning to be like the fascist regime in Italy under the leadership of Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini. A regime marked by the strict censorship and state propaganda. We have come to sadly witness the political loaded decisions, coming from the above (Union Building), decisions that are disguised as panacea to our ‘institutional ills’. The above imposed decisions only serve one purpose, that of subjugating citizens’ minds. At times protection of ‘national interests’ is thrust as a justification for these above imposed decisions. Our hard working and patriotic public servants (from NDPP and National Intelligence Agency) and some media houses are daily subjected to the panopticon gaze (see Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault and Jeremy Bentham) of the presidency.
Faced with challenges is our democratic government, challenges that are incomprehensible in nature, with others posing themselves as insidious threat to our new liberal democracy. Another time will come no more, so as learned and responsible citizens let us act comrades.In an essay entitled The Dilemma of the Black Intellectual, Cornel West writes of black intellectuals; “The central task of … black intellectuals is to stimulate, hasten, and enable alternative perceptions and practices by dislodging prevailing discourses and powers.” . Let us engage, bring alternatives and reasoning ( as Barney Pityana would argue) to the prevailing discourses in our country, country that used to be democratic.
Thembani Mbadlanyana
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