ANC school, mhh

By Rudzani Floyd Musekwa

The African National Congress (ANC) might be telling whoever cares to listen that the sacking of Balindlela and Rasool are not politically related, but the truth will soon come out. That once respected political party fast resembles a high school political party where people can just be relieved from their duties because they flirted with a girlfriend of a leader. During the times of leaders like O.R Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Goven Mbeki and others there were no divisions because they shared the same values for this country. When they disagreed it was not pettty as is today.

Today that vision is nowhere; all our leaders have in common is self advancement in the expense of the poor majority. The ANC needs to re-focus here because its current leaders have lost the plot completely. Today there are talks of an ANC political school where future leaders will be schooled. One hopes that such doesn't just become a mere talk as it is the case with most things that are said by that party. A few years ago we heard talks of that nature by the Pan Africanist Congress, and the less said about it the better.

Such kinds of schools can be both good and bad for party politics. When it is good the party reaps the good rewards, the party grows into a responsible one with smart leaders. But such kinds of schools can also prove very detrimental to a party if handled badly. As we know the ANC today seems to actually follow the path of its leaders, when this happened with Mandela it proved to be good not only to that party, but to the country as a whole.

Mbeki came in, was supported widely by that party, and generally well received by South Africans of all races, and then came second term and things changed. He attempted third term, and that's where he really committed what political analysts call ''political suicide.'' Zuma is the current leader of the ANC, and if he gets tried and proven innocent he stands to be South Africa's number one boy. Now back to the issue at hand, a political school that they are saying is on the cards.

The one bad thing that can come with such a formation is its colours, by that I mean the different voices that may want to be heard when it comes to what is to be taught, and it might divide the party with certain leaders thinking that the recipients are getting wrong education that contradicts what the ANC stands for. For instance, certain leaders might believe in militancy, as it has come out recently with the "kill" statement by that 'boy' and its repeat by that other old man who did it for popularity's sake.

The ANC is a deeply divided party for such a formation, that kind of formation needs a party that shares a common goal, and unfortunately the current ANC is a complete contradiction. On paper such schools are the best, but realistically it is not as simple. The ANC needs to sit down and come with methods of rebuilding the party to what it stood for during the times of the Sisulus of this world.


This post was written in 2009 and was published by the Cape Times, as we all know, Zuma is now the President of the Republic of SA.