By: Clyde N.S Ramalaine
Part 001. ANC PECs slates acts of tactics that show ill-regard for ANC branches and a Women presidency
In the Art of War, Sun Tzu reminded us, “All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.” We are in the silly and yet precarious season of ANC elections, usually a time of suspicious behaviour when ANC leaders pretend to be very busy. Silly because while some advertise themselves fit to lead on social media in modern self-style campaigning, as we see on social media platforms, we hear of reports of killings.
In this three-part series, I attempt to make sense of the PEC’s announcements, from Limpopo Stan Mathabatha’s second term endorsement of Ramaphosa to the most recent KZN PEC endorsement of Mkhize communicating firstly for announcing and secondly what those announcements mean. If only it were to better governance and service delivery for South Africa; instead, it appears self-serving interest defines these negotiations, backdoor deals, and horse-trading in which promises and money cannot be excluded.
The ANC Kwa-Zulu PEC becomes the 5th province to declare its slate. It was to be expected since eThekweni, the largest region in the province, gave us a preview of what was coming. KZN PEC thus joins Limpopo, Gauteng, Eastern Cape, and Northern Cape to announce a slate better understood in either a second term or not for the incumbent Cyril Ramaphosa. It is undeniable; slate politics define the ANC in all its elections. As shown by its provincial structures, it appears the ANC has wholly embraced the politics of slates.
Also, a new phenomenon is that the respective PECs do not give complete NOB lists. The emphasis is on pronouncing the president and deputy and SG and DSG offices, leaving the rest open for negotiations. We are told the provinces are open to negotiating better where not all NOB positions are filled; this is where the proverbial horse trading unfolds. This very eventful week, whose ramifications we are still to live through, also had ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe deployed to address the 14th COSATU Conference twice. For two days, Cyril’s self-styled enforcer, the ANC’ bully of Tarkastad’ or the more recent ‘dung beetle’ of modern ANC politics, was publicly embarrassed as wholly rejected to speak at what he calls his stomping grounds.
Unfortunately, no amount of his usual dismissive behaviour and style could hide his personal frustration at being publicly rejected and denied to speak, not by a few but by a slew of affiliates. The ANC chairperson, the former chair of SACP, the unionist, the former Secretary General, and the DMRE minister know all that but could not care less because times have changed. To add insult to injury, the SACP at this same Conference served the ANC divorce papers, as Mantashe puts it. Anyone knowing the oversized ego of Mantashe knows he is hurting deep inside regardless of how he met protest with his usual conclusion of answering questions with the annoyed okay. On another score, it’s a given that Mantashe was deployed to ensure Ramaphosa does not suffer this embarrassment. Does COSATU not know this?
If we think it’s a silly season, we know there is a circus unfolding. Former President Jacob Zuma, through his spokesperson, indicated his willingness to serve in the Chairperson role since some approached him to consider this nomination. Then, Zuma officially and irrevocably again confirmed his preference for Nkosazana Dlamini – Zuma to stand as president. The challenge is that the announced slate of the KZN PEC does not have Zuma’s preference for any space. I have long contended that it’s foolhardy to see Kwa Zulu Natal as a hegemonic unit that is tied boots and all to a politician. I think the arrest of Zuma as unconstitutional and the subsequent unrest revealed another aspect of the changing canvas of KZN and SA politics. The facts are that Zuma was arrested, and the world did not reach a standstill. Maybe this memo has not yet reached the Zuma. The ANC in KZN is a fragmented province related to claims of personalities who control it.
The KZN PECs announcement could also be a very strategic but necessary move to include Mashatile. It does not have to be a principle decision but a tactical one. How does KZN, the largest province in delegates and arguably the most organised in branch structures, ensure all its delegates make it to the conference when Mashatile is instrumental in a de facto SGO office in determining Conference delegates? Place Mashatile as deputy president, and you show your real hand at the conference, which will not be endorsing Mashatile. This could hold true for Limpopo, Northern Cape too. These two PECs may not necessarily want Mashatile in the deputy president position. At the same time, they may be committed to Ramaphosa for the presidency, but they know they need to have all the delegates present, and Mashatile will ensure that happens under the guise that he is their number two choice. This could hold true for Limpopo, Northern Cape too. These two PECs may not necessarily want Mashatile in the deputy president position. At the same time, they may be committed to Ramaphosa for the presidency, but they know they need to have all the delegates present, and Mashatile will ensure that happens under the guise that he is their number two choice. I guess it will be tactics versus tactics, and we will have to wait and see how this unfolds.
I wish to postulate the KZN PEC with its slate in concert with Limpopo, GP and NC have pronounced slates what I will call step-aside slates. We must engage what is meant with a step-aside slate and what these slates say about the ANC’s seriousness to give its step-aside policy respect. On another score, we warrant asking what these slates mean to claim that ANC is a democratic organisation with its branches as the central and final authority on policy and leadership choices. The more pertinent questions are: Is this pronouncement evidencing the choices of the branches? Are these announced slates not the scheming and crafting of the self-interest of PEC leadership? BGM’s are currently convening, and we know more than 85% of the branches have not been engaged regarding choices for a preferred 55th Conference leadership outcome. Perhaps we can read these announced slates as a means to influence and direct the branches in their choices.
It is a given that 90% of the delegates to the upcoming 55th Conference with voting rights constitute those representing ANC branches. We know that the branches of the ANC are yet to engage their democratic franchise of choice on their preference. Yet, the PECs of these provinces, unilateral and arrogant, deem it their inalienable right to decide on behalf of the branches which is fit to lead. The right to determine on ANC national leadership immanent in National Office Bearers [and an NEC] purports now a privilege for the respective PECs. If the branches are not known in the slates announced, it must speak to the hypocrisy of an ANC known for claiming it is the most democratic of all parties. What is so democratic when a few politicians making up a PEC decide who must lead the ANC with their survival at the epicentre? Another dimension to the equation is the subject of functional branches or structures. For the better part, the ANC attests to a dysfunctional branch structure identity. Is this what the PECs exploit to their advantage? If true, it won’t be the first time in ANC history
One thing is crystal clear; the slates unequivocally confirm that the ANC, at this rate, will not have a woman president until the praxis of impugned male sovereignty decides women, sardonically those of lesser being in the ANC, are ready and capable of leading. The toxic three-chord string of patriarchy and misogyny mixed with laces of tribalism will keep women subservient, therefore, not prepared to show except for the designated roles of deputy secretary general. What does this say? Yet if one blames the respective PECs, it may be unfair. A case can be made that the ANC’s Women’s League, for a long time, the most stable of its structures until now, refused to take themselves seriously and instead proved more willing to sell their collective souls for the crumbs of what patriarchy has to offer if and when. The sad reality is that women in the ANC believe they are not ready to lead. It may be the psychological damage of victimhood that has become synonymous with women in the ANC. Its Women’s League today attests to a wholly dysfunctional structure hollowed by tribalism, culled by factionalism, and bludgeoned by capitalism which renders it only suitable to drape itself in ANC garbs at the funerals of ANC members.
One unfortunately increasingly thinks of the ANC Women’s League as the ‘Funeral Brigade’ of the ANC, nothing more, nothing less, at least as far as testosterone in the ANC is concerned. ANC women’s league, on another level, attest to the usual problem I have observed with women, being their own worst enemies to claim their rightful emancipation. Women do not believe leading is possible because they do not celebrate each other.
Patriarchy and its twins of misogyny and tribalism long understand that hence it can divide women to lord over them until a 110-year organisation does not trust a woman to lead when we have examples of women leadership amply. It’s a women’s league that allows men to get away with their prejudices and schisms when they are willing to castigate a fellow woman in typical male misogynist language and attitude.
It becomes crucial to look at the names constituting these respective slates. For Limpopo and Gauteng, Northern Cape and now Kwa- Zulu Natal has Ramaphosa, and Paul Mashatile makes a list as president and deputy president, respectively. The names herewith engaged detail no order of seniority or significance but are purely predicated on the announced PEC slates.
A published author and poet, strategy design consultant/advisor, speechwriter, and lifelong social and economic justice activist, he makes up part of the 80’s student leadership in a Cape-based student- led push for the overthrow of apartheid. His counsel is often sought by senior politicians, ambassadors, business executives and clergy. In 2010 Former President Thabo M. Mbeki twice wrote to him personal notes. . In 2017 former President Jacob G. Zuma twice invited him to one-on-one meetings to discuss the SA discourse and the role of religion in SA politics. The former ANC Secretary-General now Chairperson, Gwede S. Mantashe invited Ramalaine in 2012 into a panel of thought leaders that held its first meeting at UJ Soweto Vista Campus to advise on ANC policy positions. On August 28, 2015 he was approved by the ANC Deployment Committee to serve as an ambassador – unfortunately the appointment never was finalised. He is a licensed and ordained Theologian with credentials both in the SA (1992) and USA (2005). His gifted expository preaching is celebrated in audiences wider than South Africa. He Holds BTh (Hons) UWC, MA Systematic Theology (Cum Laude) NWU, with a Dissertation: “Black Identity and Experience in Black Theology: A Critical Assessment.” Ramalaine recently completed his Ph.D. in Politics and International Affairs as a SARCHi Candidate. His thesis: “South Africa’s State-Led Race-Based Social Identity Construction: A Critical Assessment.” He is a public intellectual who often is invited by media-houses, TV stations, and community radio stations to share his analysis and comment on contemporary developments in political or religious discourses, with more than 1000 published articles on primarily diverse media platforms. His incisive and thought-provoking opinion pieces are welcomed as part of creating an alternate voice in SA discourse. His other work has appeared in The Thinker – Africa’s leading Journal in African thought.
