The Z-ANC
Over the last few days, I have realised just how appropriate a name ZANC is for the governing political party, a party that once had a strong claim to the name African National Congress. For near a hundred years, the ANC stood for something admirable, and matched action to word – even when that action was questionable on moral or ethical levels, it was all intended to further the cause the ANC stood for. Today, however, I can think of at least two good reasons to add a Z to the name.
The first, and perhaps most obvious, reason for the name change is our ever-newsworthy president, Mr Zuma, or the Zupta phenomenon that has spawned from his generally corrupt relationship with the Gupta family. The ANC has declared, repeatedly, in both word and action that it is fully behind Mr Zuma as the president of this country, despite his great failings.
They have done so after the highest court in this country judged Zuma guilty of violating the Constitution, the essence in words of what South Africa strives towards.
They have done so after the courts set aside an irrational decision taken to protect him, a decision which set aside hundreds of corruption charges. The consequence is that our president, Mr Zuma, is again facing hundreds of corruption charges (charges for which his erstwhile financial advisor, Mr Schabir Schaik, has already been found guilty of). Despite how clear Zuma's guilt is to any rational South African, the ANC has declared its full support of Zuma.
As far as state capture goes, the ANC slammed people who “resorted to the media” to air their grievances, followed that up with a good-PR “thank you” to Mcebisi Jonas for his bravery. The ANC launched an internal probe into the matter, but despite a reported 8 people making declarations and 1 even being willing to risk his career to put it in writing (not counting Jonas' or Mentor's statements in media), the ANC quietly let the matter slide, instead of asking themselves serious questions about why people were afraid to put such accusations in writing.
The Nkandla saga is another example. The police minister, beholden to Zuma for his job and daily bread, humiliated himself and embarrassed South Africa in his bungling attempt to explain away the luxury swimming pool, paid for from state funds, as a “fire pool” (a radical new fire-safety system that makes less sense than it sounds). The ANC filled out a majority on a committee that found, against law and the Constitution, that Zuma had conveniently done nothing wrong. Another example of what the ANC can do for Zuma, rather than the other way round.
Think back to the way the ANC has remained quiet about the disastrous way Zuma's surprise sacking of the respected Nene as finance minister cost our economy billions, if not trillions, of Rand, including over 100 billion Rand lost by the PIC – money from the pensions of the very people who work for the state. Perhaps the senior ANC members, many on salaries of 1 million Rand or more, can afford to lose fractions of their pensions each time Zuma makes rash decisions, but the fires over South Africa this year say otherwise about the rank and file that do not have access to such ample salaries. Another Zuma-serving moment.
I am not going to get into the pro-Zuma faction shuffles of the national and provincial cabinets here, but even without that, I have listed 5 good reasons why the ANC should now have a Z at the start of the name, as Zuma and his Zupta empire is clearly their “number 1”. This is Zuma's ANC, not that of Mandela or even the controversial Mbeki.
Now, on to the second way that the ANC has become the ZANC; the ANC of today has a concerning resemblance to a zombie. Seems an odd thing to say? Think about the following facts then:
Much like a nervous system, the local branches of the ANC are supposed to communicate issues and concerns up to the provincial branches, and then in turn up to the national level and structures like the NEC. Here's an example to illustrate how broken that system is: Tshwane burned for days after the announcement that the ANC at a national level was going to ignore local recommendations and impose their own candidate on Tshwane instead of one of the three names sent to them for consideration. The nerves of the ANC are dead, as if the party is afflicted with political leprosy. The NEC, and even more so Zuma and his cabinet, seem almost entirely cut off from and unaffected by the suffering and frustration of their supporters on the ground.
The ANC is at war with itself. Like someone with a terrible wasting disease, the ANC is in a gradually escalating internal war: a war between factions; a war between tribes; a war between influence pedlars and honest people. The Zuma faction is winning. The Zulus are rising. The honest people are sidelined, sacked or subverted. The ANC is fighting a terrible Z infection, an infection that is rapidly turning it into a shambling husk that moves when the infection pulls its strings in the brain (the NEC in this analogy).
Perhaps there is time yet, but all indications are that the infection has mostly run its course, and either the patient will die as the inflammation progresses, or it will survive as a money-hungering husk that will attack anyone that opposes its mindless quest for greater riches. A zombie, in other words. Hence, ZANC.
The ANC, as it exists now, is incredibly vulnerable to capture, particularly from its top position. With the support of the NEC, it is possible to protect the president of the ANC from anything short of an open coup by the military, or a Constitutional Court finding him guilty of serious criminal activity and assigning a mandatory prison sentence. Even in the latter case, with the boldness of the ANC, their president (who, until people realise this danger, is almost by default the president of SA) could possibly pardon himself out of the sticky situation, or be pardoned by the majority parliament and scrape by with an “apology”, like Zuma has illustrated.
Considering this, it stands to reason that capturing the ANC is equivalent to capturing the NEC, which can in turn capture or protect the president of the ANC, and thus the president of SA, until such a time as the ANC is no longer in power. Now think about the fact that a significant majority of the current NEC is fully beholden to Jacob Zuma, as the president, for their varied high-salary jobs in government. As illustrated with Nene, it is clear that neither performance nor consequence can protect even the minister of finance, perhaps the most visible and vital ministerial portfolio of all. Even without considering the possibility of more sinister connections – through corruption, fraud or blackmail – it is clear that the ANC NEC, and thus effectively the entire party, is captured.
Given the four main reasons above (there are more examples and auxiliary reasons than I care to even list), it is clear that the description of a “Zombie ANC” is accurate. I could go further into the drift in ethics that is illustrated by the ANC's actions; I could talk about the dozens of Struggle veterans and human rights groups that have spoken out against the ZANC phenomenon. I could talk about emerging similarities to (and apparent friendship with) the Zanu-PF. Do I really need to?
We have the cure: our vote. To be sure, for many ANC supporters, voting for the DA or another party would feel like a very bitter pill to swallow; however, if they are not willing to take that drastic action to save the ANC they love, it will very soon turn into the ZANC, and taking it back from that might not be possible at all.