More ANC Insiders Speak Out About Ruling Party

It used to be a rare event when a high-ranking member of the African National Congress said something critical of the party or dissented, or pointed at cracks in the political firmament, but recently it has become more frequent.

Add to the growing list of voices being raised Ben Turok (talking about the strictures of the ANC making problem-solving inside its ranks impossible), Kgaleng Motlanthe (saying the ANC is “impaired”), Mathews Phosa (asking for white Afrikaners and whites who had left the country to be welcomed back), as well as Reverend Frank Chikane, who said the risk of ANC support falling below 50 percent in the next national election was real and dangerous.

(In a more humorous vein, even Nando’s has jumped on the statement-making bandwagon after the report that the president might get a new luxury VIP jet costing the country R4 billion.)

Last last week, former ANC MP Turok wrote an open letter on BDLive saying the ANC structure made it almost impossible for the rank and file to voice their concern about what was happening in the party.

“We read of daily exposures of bad appointments in the public service and consequent corrupt practices,” he said, but it was virtually impossible to do anything about it. ANC conferences, he said, were more like rallies rather than meetings to lay down policy.

“When commissions draft resolutions, they are watered down by the time they get to the closing plenary to conform with views held by the top six. It is exceedingly difficult to challenge those formulations in the rally atmosphere of the closing session.”

The exciting road we chose in 1994 is long gone. Deep ­potholes and divisions are now threatening the very order on which our democracy is built. – Phosa

Turok was commenting on the reaction by Gwede Mantashe to criticisms about the ANC made in the press by Kgalema Motlanthe “and other personalities from the movement”. Mantashe said members had enough opportunity to criticise the ANC from inside, but Turok said this was not true.

Criticism or political freedom is something President Jacob Zuma clearly doesn’t pretend to tolerate, if his speech to the ANC conference in KwaZulu Natal this past weekend is anything to go by.

“ANC branches must make it impossible for any counter-revolutionary grouping to mobilise our people and lead them astray,” Zuma said.

According to news reports, Zuma lashed out at former ANC leaders who have criticised the ANC.

He warned against criticising ANC members and took swipes at former ANC leaders, who have commented on the party publicly, calling them politically immature.

Former vice president Motlante was highly critical of the ANC and its leadership in a report that appeared on 2 November, and said the party was impaired. Only days later, former ANC leader Mathews Phosa told a conference that South Africa should make it easy for skilled Afrikaner whites and other whites who abandoned the country to return and stay.

Let us open the doors and welcome back those skilled and experienced Afrikaners and other whites who abandoned their beloved country in search of security and stability, and acknowledge their skills in our economy. – phosa

Addressing a roundtable on ‘Whiteness – Whites‚ Afrikaans‚ Afrikaners’ hosted by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA)‚ the former premier of Mpumalanga said, “Our economy is ambling along at a substandard level as a result of our inability to gather and direct the skills and ­expertise that are available, as well as because of the interference by government in employment policies and practices.

“This economy can only grow at expected levels once we acknowledge that everybody has an equal role and responsibility in making it successful. Successful nations are built on education, skills development and harnessing experience. They also allocate substantial resources to research and ­development and entrepreneurial support.

“Let us open the doors and welcome back those skilled and experienced Afrikaners and other whites who abandoned their beloved country in search of security and stability, and acknowledge their skills in our economy. Let’s make it easy for them to return and to stay.”

He added, “The exciting road we chose in 1994 is long gone. Deep ­potholes and divisions are now threatening the very order on which our democracy is built. Populist calls for unfair land alienation and other suicidal economic policies threaten South Africa and its place in Africa and the world.”

It is not the first time the former treasurer-general of the ANC has rocked the political boat. In October, addressing the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation conference in Johannesburg, he said the ANC must stop blaming apartheid.

“We are government, and placing the blame on the past, apartheid, race, and other external factors does not wash anymore. It is time for solutions of which we are the architects and it is time to shape our future decisively,” he said.

“Let us begin by making sure that every rand of public money that is spent makes a tangible impact on development and upliftment of our people.”