SOUTH AFRICA’S
PAUL KAGAME MOMENT IS BECKONING!
Dumisani Tembe
South Africa’s developmental challenge, particularly for the
poor black majority, is that the ANC is simply managing state affairs, rather
than providing leadership to society. The ANC has steeped itself into a bureaucratic
operational management party, rather than a leading party.
Consequently, the crises faced by the ANC government, and society
at large are virtually the same, and recurring. These include crises of joblessness;
power supply; poor rural schools; backlog in housing provision, and water and sanitation
to poor and vulnerable communities.
The simple limitations on bureaucratic operational
management by the ANC, leads to both the ANC and society at large to lay faith on
periodically emerging individual leaders, and managers as problem solvers.
A
few examples would suffice:
Part of the narrative on the ascendency of former president
Zuma into the presidency, was that as an individual, he understood poverty and
the plight of the poor communities, and therefore, under his presidency, poverty
would be dealt with effectively. After a Zuma fatigue, many sang that things
would change under President Cyril Ramaphosa. The personal assumption being
that his ability to generate massive personal wealth, would benefit society in
growing the economy and job creation. However, there has been socio-economic
deterioration in both the individual presidencies.
The same applies to the failures in the leadership of State-Owned
Enterprises (SoEs). Hope and despair have been reduced to individual Group
Executive Officers (GEOs). Whenever there is change in the GEOs of SAA; and
Eskom, there is some renewed hope and optimism. Yet, no matter how many times
these state-owned enterprises change the Group Executive Officers, or even the
boards, the crises and deterioration degenerates further.
One difference though, between the two presidents, is that
the current president, Ramaphosa, enjoys the power advantage of blaming his
predecessor through the so-called “Nine wasted years” narrative. Or what others
in the current dominant faction, narrate as being the “victims of state capture”,
and that their current inadequacies are as a result of some “state capture
fight back”. Similarly, those that were
with Zuma in the height of his power, claimed to be “fixing the mess that former
president Mbeki left”.
This individualization of the failures of the ANC collective
is indicative of malice of the dominant faction at a given moment. But even
more critically, it is indicative of lack of a cohesive and disciplined
collective leadership, which then results in the ANC’s lack of planning both at
the party and state levels.
The result of this is a revolving leadership of stagnation
in development. This manifests itself in change of plans, policies, and senior
state managers with every different factional grouping that assumes political leadership
positions within the ANC. Thus, rather
than the evolution of political leadership and state performance, society,
mainly the poor and vulnerable, remain stuck in revolving socio-economic degenerative
crises.
It is quite common for ANC members to proudly claim that the
ANC is a “governing” party, and not a “ruling” party. Even ANC and state
president, Cyril Ramaphosa, frequently uses this term “governing party” rather
than “ruling party” in his speeches.
This self-characterization by the ANC as the governing,
rather than ruling party, limits the ANC philosophically, ideologically, policy-wise,
and operationally, to a government merely concerned with the application of rules,
processes and systems. On the face value, perhaps this is what a government
must do. That is, paying attention to governance issues.
However, this is problematic when this “governing” party is
not philosophically, ideologically, and historically the source of such a governance
regime. This does not imply that the ANC must carelessly disregard, or even
ditch the existing governance regime, but the ANC carries a liberation morality
to design a governance regime that advantages change in favour of the historically
disadvantaged.
The ANC has historically advocated for redistribution
policies in a post-apartheid South Africa. In this case, the ANC would not have
preferred a property clause in the constitution. There are also a number of developmental
constraining policies such as those in the construction industry (CIDB
requirements); and some supply chain policies that constrain black small
business from effectively partaking in state enterprises. The back and forth “public
consultation” on the demand for land redistribution, is indicative of an ANC
government that is not in charge of the governance regime upon which it
presides.
The ANC’s inability to extricate itself from the governance
regime designed to sustain apartheid socio-economic patterns, confronts the ANC
with a moral dilemma – that of being historically a liberation movement whose
governance conservatively sustains the apartheid socio-economic patterns.
Consequently, the ANC finds itself publicly articulating a liberation
rhetoric, whilst implementing conservative neo-liberal economic policies. Hence,
the ANC continues to suffer leadership mistrust from the masses manifested
through decline in electoral support.
This is where the ANC faces a serious internal
contradiction: it is increasingly conservative in its application of a
conservative governance regime; whilst the masses are increasingly yearning for
a much rapid progressive change. The latter also includes black middle classes
that has reached a ceiling and feels like it is not progressing anymore, and
actually is at risk of regression.
The ANC, therefore, has an unenviable task of outgrowing the
comfort of being the governing party into becoming a ruling party. In this
process, it must answer the question that Tokyo Sexwale once asked his ANC comrades
back in 1994 whilst he was Premier of Gauteng: “Is the ANC in office, or in
power?” For now, the ANC is in office. It is a governing party. Not a ruling party.
This means, the ANC is not leading. But managing the state
apparatus. Those that lead this society, are probably not even directly within
party politics, nor within the state apparatus. They determine the state rules
of engagement upon which the ANC governs. That’s leadership, the real state
capturers. Those with economic muscles that determine political outcomes and
determine the dominant society narratives through mainstream liberal media.
Until the ANC leadership collective, or any other ruling
party to come, assumes political leadership in thought and practice, drives a
progressive agenda, the same socio-economic crises will continue and recur.
At this stage, the masses may start calling for a South
Africa’s Paul Kagame.
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