By: Clyde Ramalaine
The adage goes that history repeats itself the first as a farce than in tragedy. I am reminded of this when a close friend shares of a time in the ANC past when KZN leader Sbu Ndebele jumped the gun to pronounce in favour of the 3rd term for Thabo Mbeki. Someone in the meeting got up to protest.
In a paraphrased protestation, he said I have no problem with Ndebele and his wishes. The focal point of my frustration and agony leaving me disturbed is you, Cadre President Mbeki, for entertaining this gross ill-discipline from where you sit. To allow this before you deliver your keynote address.
On Friday night, the depravity of ill-discipline at the highest level of the ANC in a glaring sense manifested again when Limpopo ANC Chairperson Stan Mathabatha committed the same error that Ndebele made in pronouncing a second term for Ramaphosa. We watched how Mathabatha went from attempting to deflect tribal tendencies to assert Limpopo has endorsed Ramaphosa for a second term ultimately. He did this immediately before Ramaphosa was about to deliver the keynote address.
Several NEC members such as Bheki Cele and others saw absolutely nothing wrong with this act of ill-discipline displayed in public presence. No matter how you look at this, it remains ill-disciplined regardless of how Mathabatha and the rest of the CR22 crowd want to justify it. Noteworthy was the deafening silence of the usual outspoken Chairperson Gwede Mantashe, known in the Ramaphosa era for arrogating a status of the final authority on everything, failed to make members and leaders aware of this act of ill-discipline.
Some will challenge my ill-discipline assertion and may protest what was so demonstrably wrong with this. To them, we say ill-discipline is ill-discipline regardless of who commits it. Furthermore, this act of Mathabatha like Ndebele back then constitutes ill-discipline because the accepted official opening of nominations as an ANC practice and standard is first announced before candidates can be nominated for endorsement. We all know that process is not yet announced or opened.
It is ill-discipline because it subverts the power and function of the structure that must announce this. It constitutes ill-discipline because it, in a myopic and cheap sense, allows for the incumbent to be afforded an unfair and unequal chance to use the January 8 Statement as the launching of an individual’s campaign. It is ill-discipline because it sets a bad example and precedent that can quickly mutate into a subculture as emulated by others as already seen in the proverbial monkey- see monkey-do of the Northern Cape secretary.
The sad thing is like Mbeki back then Ramaphosa as the face, and the last line of organisational reputation defence got up and dismally failed to reprimand Mathabatha. Meaning Ramaphosa, like Mbeki, wholeheartedly endorsed this ill-discipline because it works for him. What would constitute it if this is not self-interest at the expense of organisational health and sanity? One could even surmise that Ramaphosa and his faction, because he never became the ANC president but like Trump remain the president of a faction of his party, was instrumental in the ultimate Mathabatha pronouncement.
Mathabatha, on Friday night, was the spokesperson for the lusty CR22 faction, and Ramaphosa, whose only interest is a second term, saw nothing wrong with this ill-discipline. Not to be outdone, the Provincial Secretary of the ANC in the Northern Cape Deshi Ngxanga also committed the Northern-Cape to Ramaphosa second term. Therefore, we must surmise this too came as endorsed by his provincial chairperson Zamani Saul. This is a tactical move by the CR22 faction willing to break any rule as long as they prevail. How can the ANC be entrusted to such self-serving individuals whose self-interest stands paramount?
It cannot be that ill-discipline is only identified and rebuked when it’s the lower rank leaders. However, certain leaders are overlooked for reckless ill-discipline in the ANC Orwellian animal farm setting. It is clear Ramaphosa has scant regard for fixing the ANC while he pays lip service to unity and renewal cries. His primary and paramount interest is self.
It’s this ever-pervasive duality and hypocrisy that rightfully defines Ramaphosa as not fit to lead in any discipline less in renewal. What hope is there for renewal or unity when ill-discipline is embraced and celebrated at this level?
Real ANC leaders, members, and supporters cannot be part of this ill-discipline. They must deplore this ambivalent ethic. Ramaphosa must be held accountable for his gross insincerity and hypocrisy to advocate for renewal and unity when in his presence. With his unholy blessing, the renewal imperative is subverted and discarded at the altar of self-interest.
Ramaphosa thus continues his ill- discipline that saw to it that he was the first candidate that needed R1bn to become ANC president back in 2017. The ill-discipline of buying ANC conferences in using money and material things is again claimed Ramaphosa and his CR22 did in Limpopo if the recent outcomes of the regional conference and the subsequent announcements for him are considered.
Will the same fate that befell Ndebele repeat itself in Mathabatha? Perhaps more ominous will Ramaphosa suffer a similar defeat as Mbeki sustained in the 2007 elective conference? We must wait and see.
*Clyde Ramalaine
Political Analyst and Founder-Chairperson of the Thinking Masses of South Africa (TMOSA) Foundation
Stan was drunk, and is on the way out. He is most certainly singing for his next meal since he will be an ordinary member come the provincial elective conference this year.