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.
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”.
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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