Watching Kaizer Chiefs getting thrashed by a semi-professional outfit manufactured by the ultimate Queen of Bling was the highlight of my Saturday.
Images of Shauwn Mkhize in overpriced Balenciaga boots dancing in victorious celebration after the game, trampling on the sorry little hearts of each and every hurt Chiefs fan, were awfully tacky, but delightfully unforgettable. I popped a priced bottle of chardonnay I’d been saving for such moments.
A day after Chiefs were served their just deserts, I went about my traditional Sunday routine of collecting the papers and devouring them along with breakfast and coffee. All the serious titles led with the same story — former president Kgalema Motlanthe’s sober warning to the ANC that factionalism and thuggery were destroying the party.
“You are killing the ANC,” the Sunday Times splashed. “Kgalema slams thuggish ANC,” the Sunday World screamed. “Damning report of an ANC in turmoil,” was the City’s Press’ take.
I found it curious that Kgalema Motlanthe had specifically called the CR17 faction out
I was part of the editorial team that decided on Saturday that this grim warning was dire enough to splash on the front page of the Sunday Times. Not because we were aware the other papers were also planning to lead with the same story, but because of who was delivering the admonishing. ANC leaders often abuse the phrase “finding our moral compass”; they put it in almost every speech. Kgalema Motlanthe literally holds that compass; they will not escape the storm unless they follow his navigational lead to the calm waters of morality.
In the report he doesn’t mince his words. He bemoans the depths of factionalism and how associations to either the CR17 or NDZ groups determine who gets a better share of the spoils. CR17 refers to those supporting President Cyril Ramaphosa, while NDZ is the faction that favours Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who narrowly lost to him at the elective conference in 2017. That these factions still exist four years after the Nasrec conference shows you the level of depravity in the ANC.
Motlanthe, who chairs the committee overseeing the party’s local government candidate selection, delves into how narrow factional interests have soiled the whole process. “The slate politics and factionalism has been entrenched to endemic levels in the ANC. The manipulation of the candidate lists appears to be done to favour one of these factions, depending on which one is in charge at provincial, regional and branch levels.”
“The Comrades who seem to have proximity to the president often label others as RET forces to push their own personal agendas, while entrenching divisions within the ANC. Ministers, deputy ministers shamelessly and very openly pronounce their allegiance to a particular faction during their political and government work,” the papers reported Motlanthe as having told the NEC.
I found it curious that Motlanthe had specifically called the CR17 faction out. The post-Nasrec victors had clothed themselves in ethical robes, you know, the heroes who slew the state capture dragon and should now be beyond reproach. Their factional behaviour is rationalised as some noble fight against the remnants of state capture that are trying to take us back to the dark years. Motlanthe expresses concerns at what he perceives as actions of the Ramaphosa faction seeking to isolate those who disagree with them. He is correct; you don’t defeat factionalism by engaging in more factionalism.
What Motlanthe found on the ground in provinces and regions is shocking. Criminals using money to influence the selection process; highly armed thugs acting as security to prevent to aspirant candidates from accessing venues or branch meetings.
The criminals, thugs, and gangsters are using money to unduly influence the candidate selection process by busing in mobs to protest at Luthuli House (ANC headquarters) and provincial offices under the pretext of being disgruntled community members
“The criminals, thugs, and gangsters are using money to unduly influence the candidate selection process by busing in mobs to protest at Luthuli House (ANC headquarters) and provincial offices under the pretext of being disgruntled community members,” Sunday World reported.
I have the greatest respect for the former ANC deputy president. In fact, Ramaphosa has him to thank for the position he holds. Back in 2012, the dominant Zuma faction begged Motlanthe to run again as deputy president on their ticket, but he refused on the basis that factional slates were alien to the ANC. Even though he knew he didn’t have the numbers, he stood against Zuma on principle and lost.
Ramaphosa couldn’t believe his luck when Zuma’s people offered him the ANC deputy presidency after they were rebuffed. It was from there that he built the momentum that catapulted him to the West Wing of the Union Buildings six years later as Zuma’s kleptocracy unravelled. So far he has failed to contain the factional self-interest that is now threatening the very existence of the party he leads.
Was he watching the Chiefs game on Saturday? If the president and his comrades don’t heed Motlanthe’s words, ambitious leaders of makeshift political parties will in future dance on the ANC’s grave in expensive shoes.
